![Margarethe Vöhlin [reverse] by Bernhard Strigel](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Redirect/file/Bernhard_Strigel_-_Margarethe_V%C3%B6hlin%2C_Wife_of_Hans_Roth_(reverse)_-_1947.6.5.b_-_National_Gallery_of_Art.jpg&width=1200)
Margarethe Vöhlin [reverse]
Bernhard Strigel·1527
Historical Context
The reverse of Strigel's Margarethe Vöhlin portrait completes the diptych format, showing the family arms or devotional image that accompanied the portrait on its back face. This double-sided pendant portrait system — husband and wife facing each other when the panels are displayed, backs showing heraldry or devotion when closed — was a distinctive German format that combined the practical portability of the paired portraits with the symbolic statement of family identity. The Roth-Vöhlin pairing documents an upper-class southern German marriage at the moment the Reformation was challenging the visual culture of Catholic devotion that such portraits had previously incorporated.
Technical Analysis
The oil on panel reverse features Strigel's precise, controlled technique applied to heraldic or inscriptive content, maintaining the same careful craftsmanship as the portrait side.
Provenance
Probably Hans Roth [d. 14 March 1573] and Margarethe Vöhlin [d. 5 July 1582], Memmingen, Augsburg, and Ulm.[1] Manoli Mandelbaum, Berlin; (Julius Böhler, Munich), in January 1922; (Paul Cassirer, Berlin); purchased March 1922 by Ralph Harman [1873-1931] and Mary Batterman [d. 1951] Booth, Detroit;[2] gift 1947 to NGA. [1] Anton H. Konrad, letter of 5 November 1988 to John Hand, in NGA curatorial files, suggested that the pictures remained in the possession of the Roth family in the Schloss at Reutti (now New-Ulm) until 1890 when bankruptcy forced the dispersal of the collection. Since the Scloss archive is not extant, this proposal remains unverified. [2] Provenance corroborated by letter of 9 November 1987 from Julius Böhler to John Hand, in NGA curatorial files. See also Böhler inventory card no. 22-149, Getty Research Institute (copy NGA curatorial files).
![Hans Roth [obverse] by Bernhard Strigel](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Redirect/file/Bernhard_Strigel_Bildnis_Hans_Rott_1527.jpg&width=600)
![Hans Roth [reverse] by Bernhard Strigel](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Redirect/file/Bernhard_Strigel_-_Hans_Roth_(reverse)_-_1947.6.4.b_-_National_Gallery_of_Art.jpg&width=600)
![Margarethe Vöhlin [obverse] by Bernhard Strigel](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Redirect/file/Bernhard_Strigel_Bildnis_Margarethe_Rott_geb_V%C3%B6hlin_1527.jpg&width=600)
