Portrait of Jakob Fugger the Rich

Dürer's portrait of Jakob Fugger the Rich, painted around 1520, depicts the most powerful financier in Europe — a banker whose loans funded Habsburg imperial ambitions and whose business network stretched from London to Lisbon. Fugger's wealth was almost incomprehensible to contemporaries: he lent Charles V the money to bribe the electors who voted him Holy Roman Emperor in 1519. Dürer was working in Augsburg, Fugger's home city, during the Diet of 1518 where he painted Maximilian I, and the Fugger commission reflects the new patronage power of merchant bankers in German cities. The portrait's directness and the sitter's composed self-assurance capture a man accustomed to commanding the largest financial institution in the world.

Dürer's direct, unflattering characterization conveys Fugger's shrewd intelligence and commanding presence, with the gold cap and dark costume rendered with the precise observation that distinguishes his late portrait style.