Portrait of a Nobleman
Nicolaus Kremer·1529
Historical Context
Nicolaus Kremer's Portrait of a Nobleman from 1529 depicts an unidentified sitter in the formal style of Northern Renaissance portraiture. Kremer was a German painter active in the first half of the sixteenth century, working in the tradition established by Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein. The date places this portrait in the era of the Reformation, when portraiture served both personal commemoration and social display.
Technical Analysis
The oil on panel demonstrates the meticulous Northern Renaissance approach to portraiture, with precise rendering of the sitter's features, costume, and accessories. The smooth, detailed technique and careful attention to textile textures reflect the German tradition of exacting realism.
Provenance
Madame de L. de L., Paris; (her sale, Théodore Fischer, Lucerne [with A. Mak, Amsterdam], 27 July 1926, no. 139, as Nicolas Kirberger).[1] Otto B. Schuster, Amsterdam; (sale, Sotheby's, London, 15 July 1931, no. 109, as Master N.K.); Means. Mrs. Jacob H. Schiff; (her sale, American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, New York, 7-9 December 1933, no. 77, as Hans Kirberger [?], bought in [?]).[2] (Dr. Siegfried F. Aram, New York);[3] sold to Mrs. Ralph Harman Booth [Mary Batterman Booth, d. 1951], Grosse Pointe, Michigan, by 1938; gift 1947 to NGA. [1] It has not been possible to verify the earliest, apparently traditional portion of the provenance which puts the picture first in the possession of a Baron Rechberg, Hohenlöwen, then with a Count von Leutzner. These names may have been derived from the coat-of-arms on the seal on the reverse of the panel, and appear in the Curatorial Records Provenance card file. The arms on the seal are unidentified; Walter Angst, letter to John Hand of 27 May 1989, in curatorial files, states it is not Rechberg or Leutzner, although it could be a collector's seal. [2] Handwritten annotation, probably by Fern Rusk Shapley, of "no buyer" on the card for this sale in the NGA curatorial records provenance card file. [3] Siegfried F. Aram (b. 1891), a German lawyer-turned-art collector and dealer, left Nazi Germany in 1934 and established a gallery on 57th Street in New York in 1935.
