Where is the Portinari Triptych?

The triptych is at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It arrived in 1483 and deeply influenced Italian Renaissance painters who saw it.

Who commissioned this altarpiece?

Tommaso Portinari, director of the Medici bank in Bruges, commissioned it for his family chapel. He and his family appear as donors in the wing panels.

How big is the Portinari Triptych?

The altarpiece measures 253 x 304 cm (about 8.3 x 10 feet) overall. It's Hugo van der Goes's largest and greatest surviving work.

What influenced Italian artists about it?

The naturalism, emotional expressiveness, and detailed symbolism influenced artists like Ghirlandaio. Its arrival in Florence in 1483 had considerable impact on Italian painting.

Where Is Portinari Triptych (detail)? Museum Location

Hugo van der Goes painted the Portinari Triptych around 1475 in Bruges for Tommaso Portinari, director of the Medici bank's branch in the city. The massive altarpiece, measuring 253 x 304 cm overall, depicts the Adoration of the Shepherds in the central panel with donor portraits on the wings. Portinari appears with his two sons on the left; his wife Maria Baroncelli and their daughter Margarita appear on the right, each accompanied by patron saints.

The exterior panels show the Annunciation in grisaille, painted to imitate sculpture. Van der Goes developed an original style characterized by intense naturalism and chiseled drawing. The altarpiece contains some of the most complicated and hidden symbolism in any 15th-century Nativity scene. Botanical details are rendered with scientific precision, while the emotional expressions of the shepherds show unprecedented psychological depth.

Transported by sea to Florence in 1483, the triptych deeply influenced Italian artists including Domenico Ghirlandaio. It hangs at the Uffizi Gallery, van der Goes's greatest surviving work.