Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder - Portrait of a Man
Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder
Portrait of a Man
Oil on panel. 72.5 x 48.5 cm.
Possibly in original frame..
In the 16th century, Barthel Bruyn the Elder transformed Cologne into a centre of middle-class portrait painting. Hildegard Westhoff-Krummacher has attributed around 120 portraits to this artist. The present work is not included in her 1965 catalogue raisonné, possibly because it was still in the US at the time of publication.
Barthel Bruyn the Elder is documented in Cologne for the first time in 1515 and 1516. Despite several sojourns to the Netherlands, he remained deeply rooted in Cologne and his style remained highly influential for later artists in the city. His portraits reflect the independent culture of Cologne's burgher class. This is what makes Bruyn's works so unique, just as Holbein was the portraitist of the English court, Cranach of the Saxon Electoral court, the Tom Ring brothers were the painters of the Westphalian aristocracy, Gossaert and van Orley the court painters of Margaret of Austria in Brussels, and Joos van Cleve that of Francis I. This comparatively large portrait of a patrician, presumably from Cologne, in a curved frame depicts the sitter facing diagonally, his gaze averted from the viewer as in all of Bruyn's portraits, and is a characteristic example of Cologne portraiture in around 1530-1540.
The Trinity College, University of Cambridge, owns the portrait of a lady which bears the same mark on the reverse of the panel. The sitter of this portrait has been erroneously identified as Anne of Cleve, Queen Consort to King Henry VIII. Because of the similarities between the two portraits with regard to the form, the colour palette and the pictorial light, the two paintings can be considered counterparts.
We are grateful to Dr Roland Krischel, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, for assistance in cataloguing this painting.
Certificate
Max Friedländer 1922 (labelled to the reverse).
Provenance
Lempertz, Cologne before 1922 (?). - Collection of J. & S. Goldschmidt, New York. - Collection of Benjamin Stern, New York. - Collection of Felix Coulet, New York. - Heinz Kisters, Kreuzlingen. - Swiss private collection.
Literature
Charles L. Kuhn: A Catalogue of German Paintings of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in American Collections, 1936, p. 28, no.35.
Mrs. B. Stern Collection, Sales Catalogue, illus. p. 223.
Exhibitions
American Art Association, Anderson Gallery, New York, 1934, no. 834.
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Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder
Portrait of a Man
Oil on panel. 72.5 x 48.5 cm.
Possibly in original frame..
In the 16th century, Barthel Bruyn the Elder transformed Cologne into a centre of middle-class portrait painting. Hildegard Westhoff-Krummacher has attributed around 120 portraits to this artist. The present work is not included in her 1965 catalogue raisonné, possibly because it was still in the US at the time of publication.
Barthel Bruyn the Elder is documented in Cologne for the first time in 1515 and 1516. Despite several sojourns to the Netherlands, he remained deeply rooted in Cologne and his style remained highly influential for later artists in the city. His portraits reflect the independent culture of Cologne's burgher class. This is what makes Bruyn's works so unique, just as Holbein was the portraitist of the English court, Cranach of the Saxon Electoral court, the Tom Ring brothers were the painters of the Westphalian aristocracy, Gossaert and van Orley the court painters of Margaret of Austria in Brussels, and Joos van Cleve that of Francis I. This comparatively large portrait of a patrician, presumably from Cologne, in a curved frame depicts the sitter facing diagonally, his gaze averted from the viewer as in all of Bruyn's portraits, and is a characteristic example of Cologne portraiture in around 1530-1540.
The Trinity College, University of Cambridge, owns the portrait of a lady which bears the same mark on the reverse of the panel. The sitter of this portrait has been erroneously identified as Anne of Cleve, Queen Consort to King Henry VIII. Because of the similarities between the two portraits with regard to the form, the colour palette and the pictorial light, the two paintings can be considered counterparts.
We are grateful to Dr Roland Krischel, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, for assistance in cataloguing this painting.
Certificate
Max Friedländer 1922 (labelled to the reverse).
Provenance
Lempertz, Cologne before 1922 (?). - Collection of J. & S. Goldschmidt, New York. - Collection of Benjamin Stern, New York. - Collection of Felix Coulet, New York. - Heinz Kisters, Kreuzlingen. - Swiss private collection.
Literature
Charles L. Kuhn: A Catalogue of German Paintings of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in American Collections, 1936, p. 28, no.35.
Mrs. B. Stern Collection, Sales Catalogue, illus. p. 223.
Exhibitions
American Art Association, Anderson Gallery, New York, 1934, no. 834.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
