Years ago, I was one of those people you’d see rushing past the rows of old master portraits in a museum or art gallery on my way to see a more exciting genre such as history painting. I admired the portrait artists’ skills yet, frankly, I found little joy in viewing important people long-dead and often long-forgotten.
Hans Memling’s “Portrait of Tommaso di Folco Portinari,” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, highlights well why I now love old master portraits, and why we should all make friends with them.
