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MEMLING, Hans: Triptych of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation (rear)

🖼 Triptych of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation (rear), c. 1485
Oil on oak panel (each wing)
22 × 15 cm
Strasbourg, France

Intricate gilt panels depict life's fleeting pleasures—feasting, music, and luxury—rendered in jewel-toned Flemish detail. The triptych's reversal of earthly indulgence with divine salvation warns Renaissance viewers that material wealth yields only spiritual emptiness.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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