Hugo van der Goes

Admitted as master into the Ghent Painters' Guild of Saint Luke in 1467 and later serving as its dean, Van der Goes created breathtaking devotional works characterized by monumental scale, raw emotional depth, and complex compositions.

His masterpiece, the Portinari Triptych commissioned by the Medici agent Tommaso Portinari in Bruges, was shipped to Florence in 1483, where its realistic Flemish shepherds profoundly influenced Domenico Ghirlandaio and Leonardo da Vinci. In later life, he entered the monastery of Rood Klooster near Brussels.