Georg Gärtner II

(Nuremberg 1575/80–1654)
Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child,
oil on panel, 77 x 55.5 cm, framed
Provenance:
sale, Lempertz, Cologne, June 1973, lot 190;
Private collection, Germany

We are grateful to Rainer Stüwe for confirming the attribution of the present painting to Georg Gärtner. A written certificate (March 2020) is available.

This depiction of Saint Christopher is a large and rare work by Georg Gärtner II, an artist active in Nuremberg in the first half of the seventeenth century. After the death of Hans Hoffmann (circa 1591/92), Gärtner became one of the foremost artists of the Dürer renaissance, a phenomenon of increased interest in Albrecht Dürer’s works that spread throughout Europe in the late XVI and the early XVII centuries with a particular strong foothold in Nuremberg and at the courts of Prague and Munich. Gärtner copied Dürer’s works and also developed his own distinct style, combining figures and elements from various Dürer paintings and prints.

Gärtner trained in his father’s workshop, which he took over in 1612. Under his lead, the gradually expanding studio rose to be considered among the leading ones in Nuremberg. Contemporary sources mention him as ‘Mahler and Conterfeiter’, painter and portraitist. He was dean of the city painters’ guild from 1624–1624, and again from 1638 to 1642. Praised to be a ‘felicissimus Düreri imitator’ he and his workshop produced variations after Dürer’s works of the highest quality, and also after works by the Cranach workshop and Georg Pencz, emulating their style but developing a highly individual artistic language. He often, as is the case with the present painting, skillfully combined various motifs inspired by these earlier sources and created sophisticated compositions held in high esteem by contemporary collectors.
Specialist: Dr. Alexander Strasoldo