HERLIN, FRIEDRICH

(active 1459-1499)

German artist from Nördlingen where he can be traced in 1459. Herlin's name is listed in the city's tax rolls from that date until 1499, save for 1467 when he was in Rothenburg working on analtarpiecefor the Church of St. James. TheSt.GeorgeAltarpiecehe rendered for Nördlingen's city church in 1462-1465 and theSt.Blasius Altarpiecefor the Church of St. Blasius in Bopfingen in 1472. These paintings reveal Herlin's debt to the Flemish School, and particularlyRogier van der Weyden. Herlin's strongest work is theFamily Altarpiece(1488; Nördlingen, Städtisches Museum), which shows the enthronedVirginand Child against a brocaded cloth of honor. To their right,St.Margaretpresents a female donor and her daughters while, to the left,St.Lukesponsors her husband and sons. In the distance is a cityscape seen through an archway, with every detail clearly rendered. This, the heavy draperies with angular folds, hierarchic proportions, and non-idealized figure types were all borrowed from Flemish examples. The posture of the Christ Child makes specific reference to the art ofHans Memlinc.