Portrait of Johann Kleeberger
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| Portrait of Johann Kleeberger |
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| Albrecht Dürer , 1526 |
| Oil on linden wood |
| 37 × 37 cm |
| Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna |
The portrait of Johann Kleeberger is a painting by Albrecht Dürer from 1526 . The portrait was painted with oil paint on limewood and is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna .
Image description
Johann Kleeberger, who commissioned the work, is portrayed in his fortieth year. It is a representation of the head, which is located in a circular demarcation that is partially intersected at the bottom by the neck / chest transition of the sitter. Kleeberger's head, neck and upper part of the trunk completely fill the circle. Dürer cut off the portrait along the collarbones below the neck and placed it on the curve so that it overlaps. This achieves the following effect: the portrait appears to be heavily sculpted , it looks like a bust that the artist places on a circular wall section. The form of representation is very ancient , it is almost like a head sculpture of an ancient Caesar , for which the nudity is characteristic. The clear and cool look, as well as the forehead curls underline this even more. Kleeberger was a simple citizen who came to great wealth. Because of the way it is presented, it appears as if it were removed from the bourgeois world.
The inscription and additions to the portrait
The inscription reads: "E (FFEGIES) IOAN (N) I KLEEBERGERS NORICI AN (N) O AETA (TIS) SVAE XXXX" ( A portrait of Johannes Kleeberger from Nuremberg [at his] age of 40 years )
In the upper left corner is the zodiac sign of Leo, surrounded by six stars, in the lower left corner the coat of arms of Kleeberger, three green clovers over a yellow three-mountain on a red background. In the lower right corner is a crest with a man and two clover plants.
The client
Johann Kleeberger came from poor circumstances. His original name was Scheuenpflug , as a child he left his home town of Nuremberg with his father - completely penniless - for unknown reasons . In 1526 he reappeared with a huge fortune, which he had probably acquired as the banker of the kings of France, and from then on called himself Kleeberger . No sooner had he arrived in Nuremberg than he had himself portrayed by Albrecht Dürer, who was probably impressed by the adventurous aura that might have wafted around this enigmatic person. Kleeberger soon married a recently widowed patrician daughter , Felicitas, who was married to Kleeberger against the will of her father, Willibald Pirckheimer . Felicitas died soon after the wedding, and Kleeberger himself later turned up in Lyon , where he divided his fortune among the poor.
Provenance
In 1564 Willibald Imhoff , son of Hans Imhoff and Felicitas Pirckheimer, who was married to Johannes Kleeberger for the second time, acquired the picture in Lyon from David Kleeberger, the sitter's son. In the Imhoff inventory of 1573/74 it is mentioned: “ Hans Clebergers of my Stiffater Contrafactur was painted by Albrecht Dürer. I hit because it was painted by Dürer pr fl . 50 " . Emperor Rudolf II bought the painting from the Imhoff heirs in 1588 and had it brought to Prague . The picture survived the Prague art theft in 1648 , was transferred to the Vienna Treasury in 1748 and thus came into the possession of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
literature
- Franz Winzinger : Albrecht Dürer. With testimonials and photo documents . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1971, ISBN 3-499-50177-5 , ( Rororo 50177, Rowohlt's monographs ).
Individual evidence
- ^ Franz Winzinger: Albrecht Dürer. Reinbek 1971, p. 136 f.