Franz Kessler (German, 1580-C.1650), , Portrait of a

Franz Kessler (German, 1580-C.1650)Portrait of a Court Lady, Bust-LengthInscribed with sitter's age, dated and signed 'Anno AEtatis Suae 44/1620/Frantz [sic] Kessler fecit' upper and center right, oil on cradled panel27 7/8 x 23 3/4 in. (70.8 x 60.3cm)PROVENANCE:Collection of Warner S. McCall.Hammer Galleries, New York, New York (reference no. "MX6-381").Acquired directly from the above.The Collection of Ambassador and Mrs. Alexander Weddell, Richmond, Virginia (deaccessioned by The Virginia House Museum to benefit future preservation, acquisitions, and care of collections).Freeman's, Philadelphia, sale of April 10, 2019, lot 78.Acquired directly from the above salePrivate Collection, Germany.LITERATURE:Horst Vey (with contributions of Wolfgang Stechow), "Franz Kessler, Conterfeyter von Wetzlar. Die Wiederentdeckung eines ingeniösen Kopfes," in: Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, Vol. 34, 1972, pp. 119-174 , p. 142, fig. 13 (illustrated).NOTE:A student of German artist Gortzius Geldorp (1553-1618), Franz Kessler spent most of his career in Cologne, where he painted portraits of the city's wealthy citizens while also exploring the neighboring towns. Many of Kessler's portraits date to the 1620s, such as the present one. They may be found in the Szépmüvészeti, Budapest, as well the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.In his 1947 book entitled A Description of Virginia House, Alexander Weddell says: "On the north wall is a portrait on panel of a lady of the Court of Elizabeth or James I by Franz Kessler. Worthy of notice is the costume. The filmy lawn about the neck, the delicate lace collar framed on wires, whose pattern is repeated in the cuffs, and the elaborate jewels, worn as if forming a heraldic collar, add to the generally pleasing quality of the portrait." Although Kessler is known to have travelled inside and outside of Germany between 1620 (the date of our portrait) and 1624, there is no concrete evidence that the artist, a member of the Artists Guild of Cologne, ever went to England. As such, we must assume that this portrait was done on the continent, probably in the close vicinity of Cologne.The painting appears very close to the style (and size) of another 1620 portrait by Kessler, that of a young girl aged 15 (now in the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, NY). The two works share the same dark, abstract background and each figure is depicted with a very pale face, which contrasts with their fresh red lips and soft rosy cheeks. The careful rendition of the ladies' costume, particularly the delicate lace around their necks, as well as the shiny jewels on their black dresses, indicates that the two models came from a wealthy background. To some extent, we may even suggest that the two were related (mother and daughter) and part of the same, bigger, image. In his 1972 article (p. 120), Horst Veys argues that both paintings were probably cut down, ours being trimmed at the bottom and on its left side; a hypothesis which the (unusual) narrow composition seems to confirm.Although our lady was certainly not a member of the Elizabethan court as explained above, her costume might suggest that she was in fact a member of the court of Fredrick V and Elizabeth Stuart, who both lived in Heidelberg and became King and Queen of Bohemia in 1619 (for just a year, which granted them the nickname of the "Winter King and Queen"). Elizabeth Stuart was originally from England, and when she moved to Germany, she influenced the style of many German princesses who copied her elaborate dresses, such as the one depicted here. When studying the birth records of the time, only one German princess seems to fit the date and the age of the sitter inscribed on the portrait: Amalia von Sayn Wittgenstein. Born in 1586, she married Georg von Nassau Dillenburg in 1607 and both had a daughter named Margaretha von Nassau Dillenburg (1606-1661). Margaretha would have been 15 years old in 1620, which seems to corroborate our hypothesis based on the aforementioned portrait in Rochester.We wish to thank Ms. Sabine Craft-Giepmans at the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, also known as R.K.D., for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.