Martin Kober

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King Stephan Báthory; 1583
Sigismund III. from Poland; 1591

Martin Kober (also Köber or Köbner ; Polish : Marcin Kober ) (* 1550 in Breslau ; † before 1609 ) was a Silesian painter of Mannerism and early Baroque , who became known as a portrait painter at the Polish royal court .

life and work

After the end of his apprenticeship, which he last spent in Magdeburg , Kober went to Poland in 1583 , where he found employment at the royal court in Krakow and even rose to be the court painter of King Stephan Báthorys .

In the first year of his activity there, he created the portrait of his client, King Stephan Báthory. Although this work was his first for the Polish king, it is considered his main work and already shows the style typical of Kober: the naturalistic, unadorned depiction of the person being portrayed and the play of the hands that detach themselves from the static body.

In the following years, too, Kober was to work as a portrait painter. After Báthory's death in 1586, Kober returned to his hometown of Wroclaw, but soon went to Prague because of guild disputes . He took up the ideas of Mannerism at the court of Emperor Rudolf II , was released from the guild obligation in 1587 and was able to work freely there. In 1590 he came back to Krakow, where he was again court painter, this time to King Sigismund III. Wasa was. With the exception of his brief activity at the archducal court of Graz , he worked as a court painter in Krakow until his death.

Martin Kober, whose work can be seen taking into account the Silesian and German influences of his apprenticeship, was Poland's first portrait painter and established this genre in Polish painting. He was also an important representative of the early baroque . His style of painting found many imitators in the period that followed.

Selection of his works

Web links

Commons : Martin Kober  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Kober, Martin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Koeber, Martin; Koebner, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Silesian painter
DATE OF BIRTH 1550
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH before 1609