Early Netherlandish painting has reinvented the donor portrait. In its function for the praying viewer, it becomes evident as a phenomenon of a unique cultural-historical constellation and is connected to the meanings of prayer and emotion, reflection and self-awareness. Understanding the image prayer fundamentally as an affecting event, one would expect a depicted donor to be represented as an identification figure for the contemporary viewer with exemplary emotionality. However, in Early Netherlandish painting, the face of the donor figure, which is otherwise closely aligned with the holy image personnel in terms of representation, surprisingly remains still and expressionless. Johanna Scheel delves into the pressing question of the emotion-communicating and prayer-promoting function of the donor portrait for the praying viewer for the first time in depth.