South German

The format of this portrait – the three-quarter bust-length view, the inclusion of the hands and the plain background are typical of German portraiture of the sixteenth-century. But the painting is in poor condition and has been overpainted extensively. The identities of the sitter and artist a...

This portrait was made to hang with one of a woman by the same artist (Oscar Reinhart Collection, Winterthur), possibly to commemorate the couple’s engagement or marriage. This seems likely as both are shown with flowers associated with marriage: the carnation or pink held by the man was part of...

The woman’s large white headdress, its calligraphic shape made up of stiff, angular folds, is striking against the dark background. Shading around the folds reinforces the sense of their depth, and the artist seems to want us to think that a fly, deceived by his illusion, has attempted to land on...

Saint John the Evangelist is shown on the island of Patmos. According to tradition, this was where he wrote the biblical Book of Revelation, a description of the events leading up to the end of the world.Gripping an ink pot in one hand and a quill in the other, the saint is deep in concentration,...