Peter Gertner, um 1495 Nürnberg – nach 1541, deutscher... Lot n° 283

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN WITH GOLD CHAIN OIL on softwood board, in two panels. 45 x 35,5 cm. Dated "1515" at upper left, inscribed "AGE 20 IAR" at upper right. Bust portrait to the left; the face with perfectly drawn features suggests a determined personality. Her high origin can be recognized not only by her clothing, but also by her haughty attitude and straight and open gaze. Her attire is indeed that of a wealthy Renaissance lady, beginning with her headdress, a broad-brimmed beret typical of early 16th-century German fashion, as seen in particular in the work of Lucas Cranach the Elder, a contemporary of the portraitist. Her white shirt, finely pleated and belted in gold, covers her neck before disappearing into the neckline of a velvet dress. But it is above all her heavy gold chain, the only obvious piece of jewelry, that lends all its prestige to the young woman, whose age, as was customary at the time, is revealed at 20 over her head. Framed in a close-up, this portrait obeys the conventions of the genre, in which the model's individuality is magnified by a plain dark green background that lends luminosity to her complexion. The subtle treatment of the details of the face, as if chiseled, brings this work closer to the art of copperplate engraving, which was highly prized in the Holy Roman Empire. (†) Provenance: Neumeister, Munich, Kunstauktionen, June 26, 1996, no. 461 (as "attributed to Peter Gertner"). Acquired from Galerie Xavier Goyet, Marseille, on October 5, 2000, from the parents of the present owners. Private collection, Paris. Note: Peter Gertner (ca. 1495 - after 1541) is a German portrait painter who was born in Nuremberg. After a probable apprenticeship with the painter and engraver Wolf Traut (1486-1520), who collaborated with Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), Gertner had a brilliant career as a portrait painter among the Bavarian nobility. He painted his finest portraits especially at the court of Elector Otto Heinrich von Pfalz-Neuburg. In a conventional style reminiscent of his most famous contemporaries Hans Baldung (1485-1545) and Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), Peter Gertner knew how to paint German princes in the splendor of their costumes. But it was in "The Crucifixion" (1537), considered his masterpiece and now housed in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, that his talent as a portrait painter allowed him to characterize the actors in the Passion of Christ with power and feeling. His finest portraits are now kept in Heidelberg, Munich, and in the United States. (13013312) (10) Peter Gertner, ca. 1495 Nuremberg - after 1541 PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN WITH GOLD CHAINOil on softwood plate, in two panels. 45 x 35.5 cm. Dated "1515" upper left, inscribed upper right. (†) Provenance: Neumeister, Munich, Art Auctions, June 26. 1996, no. 461 (as "attributed to Peter Gertner"). Acquired from Galerie Xavier Goyet, Marseille, on 5 October 2000, from the parents of the present owner. Private collection, Paris.