Memling schildert de Rijve van de Heilige Ursula

Eduard Wallays painted the work in 1861, depicting St. Ursula within a shrine attributed to Hans Memling. The painting entered the collection of the Groeningemuseum shortly after its creation and remains on display there. Its dimensions measure 94 cm by 148.5 cm.

The composition features a nun, child, window, fireplace mantel, book, palette, paintbrush, and interior architectural elements. Wallays' authorship was confirmed through archival documentation, establishing his role as the artist.

The work was commissioned as a study engaging with Memling's compositional legacy, reflecting 19th-century artistic dialogue with early Netherlandish masters.

The painting is held in the collection of the Groeningemuseum, as recorded in its Wikidata entry. No specific inventory or accession number is documented in the available sources, and no exhibition history is listed for the work beyond its presence within the museum's permanent collection.

The oil-on-canvas painting, measuring 94 cm in height and 148.5 cm in width, was produced in 1861 by Eduard Wallays and is catalogued as part of the Groeningemuseum holdings.

Eduard Wallays, a 19th‑century Belgian painter and director of the Bruges Academy of Fine Arts, completed an oil work in 1861 that belongs to the realist tradition. The canvas, now part of the Groeningemuseum’s holdings, presents an interior scene centred on a woman in a white habit, surrounded by a seated man, a young boy with a book, and a richly detailed shrine.

Wallays worked during a period when Belgian artists often revisited historic subjects to affirm national cultural identity. By depicting Memling, a native of Bruges, alongside a revered religious shrine, the artist aligns contemporary realism with the city’s celebrated medieval artistic achievements.