R16. Contains adult themes, violence and religious dingbattery

This 1475 painting by Hans Memling presages the later preoccupation of Western art and literature with serial murderers.* At this early stage in the development of the trope, the conventions had not yet crystallised, so the murderer is female rather than the later expectation that they will always be male.

She is shown dragging her latest victim into her "workshop", where the back wall is studded with body parts and occupational tools taken as trophies from her previous kills.

In a subsequent painting, Memling depicted the capture of the killer through a combination of state-of-the-art forensic work and the profound psychological insights of Detective van Eyck. He devoted a third painting to the dramatic moment in "Maria's" trial when she claims to be suffering from multiple personality disorder, with no evidence which of her alters committed the alleged crimes -- "Bethany" (obsessed with a dead brother), "Magdalene" (promiscuous, street-wise yet prone to losing her clothes), or "Miriam" (simultaneously maternal and virginal).

Hans Memling was born in Germany but died in Bruges which is enough of an excuse to use the "Bloody Belgians" tag.

* For values of "Western" that include "American".