Saint Ursula Shrine, 1489

The reliquary is constructed in the shape of a traditional house or chapel with a saddle-roof. It is clearly intended as a wooden version of a gilded metal shrine, of which the side reliefs and roof with tracery and tondos have been replaced with paintings. The chapel concept is exhaustively pursued. The late-Gothic decoration with pinnacles, gablets, crockets, finials, tracery, statues in niches, arched side openings and the painted trompe-l'oeil views of the interior on the narrow ends speak for themselves.

The complex tale of the Breton princess and martyr Ursula, based for the most part on the Legenda Aurea (James of Voragine, late 13th century) is condensed by Memling into a mere six scenes - three on each of the two long sides. Apart from the arrival in Rome, all the scenes are enacted on the banks of the Rhine at Cologne and Basle. Ursula was the daughter of Deonutus, the Christian king of Brittany. Her virtue and beauty were universally praised, causing the pagan king of Anglia to seek her as the bride for his son and heir, Etherius. To avoid difficulties, Ursula resolved, with divine prompting, to accept the proposal on condition that she might first undertake a three-year pilgrimage to Rome, accompanied by eleven thousand virgins from the English kingdom, on eleven ships. Permission was given, and the company set off. Memling picks up the story at their first stop on the Rhine at Cologne.