# The Last Judgment Triptych > Hans Memling - c. 1467-1473 > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/artworks/hans-memling/memling-last-judgment-triptych-gdansk/ > Published by Servola Systems GmbH. Last verified: 2026-10-08 ## Tombstone - **Artist:** Hans Memling - **Date:** c. 1467-1473 - **Medium:** Tempera and oil on oak panel (Baltic oak) - **Dimensions:** Central panel 242 x 180.8 cm, each wing 242 x 90 cm (museum figures, apparently framed); painted surface about 224 x 162 cm centre and 223.5 x 72.5 cm per wing per mp.pl - **Object type:** Painting - **Period:** Netherlandish, fifteenth century - **Current location:** National Museum in Gdansk (Muzeum Narodowe w Gdansku), Department of Historical Art - **Attribution:** disputed ## Summary Hans Memling's Last Judgment is a triptych of tempera and oil on Baltic oak, painted at Bruges for Angelo Tani, a Medici banker, and meant for a chapel near Florence. It never got there. On 27 April 1473 the galley carrying it, loaded with alum, cloth of gold and the goods of Tommaso Portinari, was taken in sight of the English coast by the Danzig privateer Paul Beneke and the picture ended in St Mary's Church in Danzig.Portinari's own list of losses, drawn up at the Utrecht diet of 1473, values the two altar tables at 100 pounds groat out of a total of 6,540; Portinari's own valuations, recited in a 1496 sentence of the Great Council of Malines, put them at 360 florins. The lawsuit against the Hansa was still being argued at the Hansa diet of 1511, and no document seen contains a demand for the painting by name. Danzig refused Rudolf II and Peter the Great, lost the picture to Napoleon's Louvre in 1807 and to Berlin in 1815 and got it back in 1816 or 1817.Hidden in Thuringia in 1944, taken to the Hermitage in 1946 and returned to Poland in 1956, it hangs in the National Museum in Gdansk. The attribution has moved from van Eyck to Memling, and since 2015 a team has argued that Rogier van der Weyden began it. The Getty has just reported its condition as excellent and its case as due for replacement. ## Provenance Every link carries a grade. `documented` means a cited source supports it, `disputed` means the identification is argued but not established, `unknown` means we have no owner for that span and have not bridged it. - **c. 1466-1473-April 1473** Angelo di Jacopo Tani, Florentine banker, formerly manager of the Medici bank at Bruges; painted by Hans Memling's workshop at Bruges `[disputed]` (commission) Tani and his wife Caterina Tanagli are shown with their arms on the exterior, identified by Warburg in 1902. The date and the circumstances of the order are inferred; Szmelter and colleagues say there are no data on the commission, and the 2015 study reads the oak of the central panel as a support made toward the end of 1460. Whether the triptych was meant for the Badia Fiesolana (museum: the family chapel in the church of St Bartholomew; mp.pl: the chapel of St Michael) or for Orsanmichele, as Przybyszewski proposed, is open. The 2015 paper proposes Rogier van der Weyden as the originator of the design. - **April 1473-27 April 1473** Shipped with the cargo of Tommaso Portinari, Medici manager at Bruges, on a Burgundian-flag galley (St Thomas or San Matteo) `[disputed]` (shipment) The galley was fitted out in Zeeland with the arms of Charles the Bold and chartered by Portinari and associates. Portinari's list of losses, handed in at Utrecht in July 1473, includes 'both the altar tables' at 100 pounds groat, and the editor of the Hanserecesse identifies one of the two with the Memling triptych; the 1496 recital values 'two altar tables' at 360 florins. That the triptych was aboard rests on an editor's identification of two undescribed altar tables in the claimant's lists (Schaefer 1888, Ropp 1892) and on Danzig tradition; Przybyszewski says Tani used the sailing to send his triptych with Medici and Portinari goods, without giving a source. The galley and her cargo are documented; the triptych's presence is not. - **27 April 1473-1473** Paul Beneke, captain of the carvel Peter von Danzig, and its three Danzig owners (names given as Sidinghusen, Balandt or Valandt and Niederhof or Niederhoff) `[disputed]` (capture) Taken in sight of the English coast, before the truce with England. The mercenaries took the prize to the Elbe; Hamburg gave only a conditional escort; the owners settled the prize at Stade. Hamburg and Luebeck forbade any dealing with the ship. The identification of the three owners by name is not seen in a primary text. The capture of the galley is documented; that the triptych passed to Beneke's owners rests on the same editorial identification and on Danzig tradition. The capture of the galley is documented; that the triptych passed to Beneke's owners rests on the same editorial identification and on Danzig tradition. The capture of the galley is documented; that the triptych passed to Beneke's owners rests on the same editorial identification and on Danzig tradition. The capture of the galley is documented; that the triptych passed to Beneke's owners rests on the same editorial identification and on Danzig tradition. The capture of the galley is documented; that the triptych passed to Beneke's owners rests on the same editorial identification and on Danzig tradition. - **1473-1807** Brotherhood of St George, Danzig, and the Basilica of St Mary (Marienkirche), Danzig `[disputed]` (gift) Reported by the museum, with no primary document seen: the museum says the three owners, members of the Brotherhood of St George, gave the triptych to the church, where it hung on a pillar by the chapel of St George as the brotherhood's private property. The date of the gift is not given. Demands for its return from Charles the Bold, Portinari, the Four Members of Flanders and, by repute, Pope Sixtus IV did not succeed; no document seen contains a demand for the painting by name. - **1473-1511** Claim of Tommaso Portinari against the Hansa merchants `[documented]` (litigation) Great Council of Malines sentence of 5 August 1496; Bruges took over the German merchants' liability for the condemned sum, reported as about 52,000 gulden not counting damages and interest, as recorded at the Luebeck diet of 1511. De Roover notes that Tani is not mentioned in the lawsuit documents. - **Before 1635-1717** Offers of Emperor Rudolf II (40,000 thalers, per Ogier in 1635) and Tsar Peter I (1717) `[disputed]` (offers refused) Reported by the museum from Ogier's account of 1635 and later records, not from a document seen. Reported by the museum from Ogier's account of 1635 and later records, not from a document seen. Reported by the museum from Ogier's account of 1635 and later records, not from a document seen. Reported by the museum from Ogier's account of 1635 and later records, not from a document seen. Reported by the museum from Ogier's account of 1635 and later records, not from a document seen. The Danzig council refused both. No auction sale of the triptych has ever been recorded. The offer of 50,000 thalers attributed to the elector of Brandenburg appears only in a popular account. - **1807-1815** Musee Napoleon (Louvre), Paris, inventory no. 563, as Jan van Eyck `[documented]` (requisition under French occupation) The French commandant asked the church wardens to hand it over on 3 June 1807 and they did (German Wikipedia); the museum says Denon came to seize the best works in the conquered cities. - **1815-December 1816** Held in Berlin on the authority of the Prussian state `[documented]` (repossession from the Louvre) Per the museum, the first work taken out of the Louvre. Schadow and Berlin artists argued for keeping it; the Danzig council and preachers refused every substitute. - **17 December 1816-1942** Basilica of St Mary, Danzig `[disputed]` (return) The date of return varies: 17 December 1816 arrival and 18 January 1817 re-installation (German Wikipedia), January 1817 (museum), 1816 (Memling Research Center, Gerson). Hung in the chapel of St Dorothy from 1817 and moved to the chapel of St Reinhold after 1934. Gluszko alone says it was restored in Danzig in 1718, cleaned in Berlin before its return and restored again there in 1851. - **1942-1946** Danzig city museum under Willi Drost (evacuation), Meiserwalde (Mierzeszyn) church, then a village church in the Rhon, Thuringia `[disputed]` (wartime evacuation) Per the museum's history page, hidden in the Evangelical church at Meiserwalde in 1942 and taken to Thuringia in September 1944; mp.pl says German troops took it into the Reich in 1945. The steps rest on the museum's summary page, not on a document. - **1946-1956** Soviet authorities; State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad `[disputed]` (seizure and display) The museum says the Red Army found it in 1946 and sent it to the Hermitage; mp.pl dates the Soviet capture to 1945; Przybyszewski (1979) mentions no Hermitage stay and says it was placed in the Pomeranian Museum in 1946. The Memling Research Center and the PAP reports call it seized or exhibited at the Hermitage. The legal basis is not stated in any source seen. - **1956-present** Pomeranian Museum, Gdansk, from 1972 the National Museum in Gdansk `[disputed]` (return and museum custody) Returned from the USSR in 1956 and shown at the National Museum in Warsaw; the museum says Warsaw research and restoration came first. Gluszko says it returned to Gdansk on 22 September 1956; Niezla Sztuka and Pomorskie.travel say 1958. Inventory MNG/SD/413/M. The Memling Research Center describes ownership as disputed between the state and the Church; no ruling was found. ## Open questions - Who ordered the triptych and when? No contract, payment or letter survives, and Szmelter's team says there are no data on the commission. Dates between 1466 and 1473 all appear in print and the donors are identified only by the coats of arms. - Was the destination the Badia Fiesolana (chapel of St Michael per mp.pl and Inside the Vatican; family chapel in the church of St Bartholomew per the museum) or a pillar in Orsanmichele, as Przybyszewski suggested in 1979? - Who is the head on the scales? The identification with Tommaso Portinari rests on resemblance, and the sources disagree on whether the figure is saved or damned. Why was the head painted on a tin sheet and inserted, and when? - Did Rogier van der Weyden make the design and underdrawing, as Szmelter, Walter and Rousseliere argue from the dendrochronology and the infrared images? No independent test or rebuttal was found, and the 2015 paper itself leaves open whether draughtsman and painter were one. - Is Ropp's identification of Portinari's two 'altar tables' with the Gdansk triptych correct? The 1473 list and the 1496 recital describe two altar tables and name neither painter nor subject, and the valuations given, 100 pounds groat and 360 florins, were the claimant's. - What was the name and destination of the ship? St Thomas bound for London, San Matteo bound for Italy, St Matthew or St Andrew (the basilica's own page) and San Tommaso are all given, the Memling Research Center calls the vessel a Medici-owned galley, English Wikipedia's Beneke article calls it English-owned with Portinari as registered owner, and the date is 27 April in most sources and about 14 April in one. - Did Pope Sixtus IV issue a bull against Danzig in 1478, and did Lorenzo de' Medici intervene? The statements are repeated in modern summaries and no primary text for them was seen. - When did the triptych reach Gdansk after the Soviet return: 22 September 1956 or 1958? No source seen names the legal instrument of the transfer from the Hermitage. - Who owns it in law? The Memling Research Center describes ownership as disputed between the state and the Church, and no ruling was found. Has Italy, the Medici line or any Tani descendant ever made a formal claim? None was found. - Is the frame original, and what happened to the Danzig tablet of 1817? No source says. ## Sources - [1] Hanserecesse, Zweite Abtheilung (1431-1476), Siebenter (Schluss-)Band, ed. Goswin Frhr. von der Ropp (Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1892): editor's introduction on the taking of Thomas Portinari's galley, Utrecht diet of 1473, no. 41 (Portinari's specification of losses, pp. 115-117, with the editor's footnote identifying one of the two altar tables as Memling's Last Judgment), and nos. 134, 270, 272. Page images read from the Internet Archive scan. - [2] Hanserecesse von 1477-1530, Dritte Abtheilung, Dritter Band, ed. Dietrich Schaefer (Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1888): no. 676 (Hansa diet at Luebeck, 12 January 1497), pp. 503-507, the Great Council of Malines recital of the cargo and sentence of 5 August 1496 in Portinari's favour, with the editor's footnote on the altar tables. Page images read from the Internet Archive scan. - [3] Hanserecesse von 1477-1530, Dritte Abtheilung, Sechster Band, ed. Dietrich Schaefer (Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1899): Hansa diet at Luebeck, 16 June - 5 July 1511, no. 188 paragraph 120, p. 144, the Portinari judgment and the Bruges assumption of the debt. Text read from the Internet Archive OCR. - [4] Karl Koppmann, 'Beneke, Paul', Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie vol. 2 (Leipzig 1875), pp. 329-330, on Wikisource (Beneke's career, the capture of 27 April 1473, the cargo valued at 60,000 pounds Flemish). - [5] Boleslaw Przybyszewski (Ks.), 'Sad Ostateczny Jana Memlinga w Muzeum Pomorskim w Gdansku', Nasza Przeszlosc 52 (1979), pp. 107-166. Full text read from the open PDF (OCR). Iconography, history of the triptych, attribution history, the Krassowski astrolabe hypothesis. - [6] Iwona Szmelter, Philippe Walter and Helene Rousseliere, 'New Information Provided by Multidisciplinary and Combined Studies, Including Radiography, XRD and XRF, of the triptych the Last Judgement from National Museum in Gdansk: Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling co-authorship', Opuscula Musealia 23 (2015), pp. 61-73. Full text read from the open PDF. Dendrochronology (Torun, 2003), MOLAB campaigns 2012-2013, pigments, underdrawing, tin insert. - [7] National Museum in Gdansk, 'The History of the Painting', official Last Judgement site (English). - [8] National Museum in Gdansk, 'Historia obrazu', official Last Judgement site (Polish). - [9] Lilibeth Garcia, 'Art Worth the Risk', Getty News, 24 June 2026 (the condition study made about twelve years before 2026, when a Rome loan was considered, and the 2025 re-examination, the ageing display case, evacuation planning; inventory number MNG/SD/413/M). - [10] Memling Research Center, University of Gdansk, 'Our mission' (summary of the capture, the return from the USSR in 1956, research agenda including ownership and the legality of the raid). - [11] Florence Edler de Roover, 'A Prize of War: A Painting of Fifteenth Century Merchants', Business History Review 19.1 (February 1945), pp. 3-12. Only the abstract and the footnotes were visible on the Cambridge Core page (article text is behind access); footnotes 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 used with the caveat given in notes_for_editor. - [12] Flemish Primitives (Flemish Art Collection), 'Hans Memling' biography and chronology. - [13] Inside the Vatican, 'Rome's First Tribute to Hans Memling' (report on the 2014 Scuderie del Quirinale exhibition, 1 November 2014; carries the 1494 Rombout de Doppere phrase). Journalistic; used for the exhibition and for the quotation. - [14] 'Medyczne tajemnice Sadu Ostatecznego Hansa Memlinga', mp.pl, 8 May 2017 (description of the work and the circumstantial chain for the commission; draws on museum material). Secondary. - [15] German Wikipedia, 'Das Juengste Gericht (Hans Memling)' (tertiary; cites Karl Schuetz 2002, Warburg 1902 and Paul Simson 1916). Used for the 1807 to 1817 chronology and the Danzig tablet of 1817. To be replaced by Simson (1916). - [16] Hanna Benesz, 'Early Netherlandish, Dutch and Flemish paintings in Polish collections', Gerson Digital: Poland (RKD). - [17] Tadeusz T. Gluszko, article from the monthly 30 Dni republished by the City of Gdansk, 'Juz 550 lat od dnia, w ktorym gdanscy kaprowie zdobyli na morzu Sad Ostateczny Hansa Memlinga', gdansk.pl, April 2023 (popular account; contains details not found elsewhere, used only where attributed). - [18] PAP via dzieje.pl, ''Sad Ostateczny' moze byc dzielem zespolowym' (Iwona Szmelter on the infrared scan and Rogier van der Weyden). - [19] PAP via dzieje.pl, ''Sad Ostateczny' Memlinga zbadaja zagraniczni naukowcy' (announcement of the MOLAB examination, 31 January - 4 February). - [20] PAP via dzieje.pl, 8 February 2011, on the National Museum in Warsaw's dispute with St Mary's Basilica over eighteen other medieval works (does not concern the Memling). - [21] John H. Munro, 'Real Wages and the Malthusian Problem in Antwerp and South-Eastern England, 1400-1700', University of Toronto Working Paper 27 (2006), tables 2 and 4 and note 11. - [22] K. Haneca, T. Wazny, J. Van Acker and H. Beeckman, 'Provenancing Baltic timber from art historical objects: success and limitations', Journal of Archaeological Science 32.2 (2005), pp. 261-271 (abstract). - [23] Polish Academy of Sciences Scientific Centre in Rome, report on the seminar 'Collecting and Displaying Hans Memling in Poland and Italy', 25 September 2025. - [24] English Wikipedia, 'Beaune Altarpiece' (tertiary; commission and layout of Rogier van der Weyden's polyptych). - [25] English Wikipedia, 'Dieric Bouts' (tertiary; the Last Judgment altarpiece of 1468-1470 for Leuven town hall and its surviving wings in Lille). - [26] 'Burzliwe losy dziela - Hans Memling Sad Ostateczny', Niezla Sztuka (secondary, popular; used only for the 1956 Warsaw exhibition and the 1958 and 1972 dates, attributed). - [27] Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, record of Johann Carl Schultz's outline tracings of the Last Judgment in St Mary's, Danzig (museum-digital). - [28] English Wikipedia, 'Tommaso Portinari' (tertiary; cites de Roover and Koster 2003). - [29] English Wikipedia, 'Paul Beneke' (tertiary). - [30] German Wikipedia, 'Paul Beneke' (tertiary; cites NDB 1955 and ADB 1875). - [31] English Wikipedia, 'Hans Memling' (tertiary). - [32] Italian Wikipedia, 'Giudizio universale (Memling)' (tertiary; dimensions and the Lorenzo de' Medici request). - [33] Memling Research Center and National Museum in Gdansk, call for papers for the conference 'Artists, Bankers, Sailors' (20-22 April 2023). - [34] English Wikipedia, 'Peter von Danzig' (tertiary; the ship's history). - [35] 'Interview with Alicja Andrzejewska, curator at the National Museum in Gdansk', Weranda (magazine), 'Arcydziela w Polsce: Sad Ostateczny Hansa Memlinga'. - [36] Pomorskie.travel (regional tourist board), 'The Last Judgment. The most valuable image in Gdansk' (tourist text; used only for the 1958 date, attributed; it also repeats the older Van Eyck attribution). - [37] Basilica of St Mary, Gdansk, QR page 'Sad Ostateczny' (the basilica's own text; names the galley St Matthew / St Andrew and says the triptych was taken as war booty). - [38] PAP via dzieje.pl, report on the comic 'Hans Memling. Malarz tego drugiego renesansu' by Lukasz Pawlak (Gdansk public library) and the museum's announcement of the Year of Memling. - [39] English Wikipedia, 'Badia Fiesolana' (tertiary; the rebuilding of 1456-1467 for Cosimo de' Medici). --- Images on this record are public domain or CC0 and are hosted by us. No image on this site is generated or simulated. If you quote this record, quote the provenance grades with it.