VAN DER GOES, HUGO

(ca. 1440-1482)

Flemish painter, active at Bruges until 1478, when he entered a monastery. Although he painted for a brief period after he became a lay brother, he suffered from pro-found depression and abandoned his art. His best-known work is thePortinari Altarpiece(ca. 1476), executed for a wealthy Florentine busi-nessman active in Bruges and placed in his family chapel inFlorence, where it was much admired. Other works includeThe Fall of Man(ca. 1470), aLamentation(ca. 1470), theMonforte Altarpiece, treating the Adoration of the Magi (ca. 1472), and two late works which are some-times interpreted as showing evidence of the artist's emotional insta-bility, a Nativity (ca. 1480) andThe Dormition of the Virgin(ca. 1480), depicting the death of Mary.