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Abstract
Toward the end of his career, Hans Memling painted a devotional diptych of Christ’s Deposition for Isabel “la Católica” of Castile. This image is unusual among Early Netherlandish devotional art and also among Memling’s larger oeuvre. Despite clearly occupying the same space and taking part in the same narrative, the figures possess gazes that are unfocussed and imprecise; if the illustrated scene were happening in real life, these figures would not be able to effectively see each other or anything else. In combination with the simplified costuming and other unusual characteristics, the unfocussed gazes of the painting support and illustrate the particular imaginative meditation that was prized by the highly popular devotio moderna. This essay connects the painting to the devotio moderna, the devotio moderna to Isabel, and attempts to recreate the commissioning of this painting, which has not yet been fully appreciated by the scholarly community.