Originally from a small town near Frankfurt-am-Main, Hans Memling became a citizen of Bruges in the Burgundian Netherlands in 1465 and remained there until his death. This panel represents Christ as an image of pity. Displaying the wounds of his Passion, yet open-eyed and thus ‘alive’, Jesus is shown cradled in the arms of his grieving mother. Fervent prayer in front of harrowing images of this type was considered to have the power to hasten the soul’s passage through the pains of Purgatory.