Bernhard Strigel 1460 Memmingen - 1528 ebenda Portrait of a man with a black beret Adhesive label Slg. Albert Figdor with the numbering "B. 3." verso. Mixed technique auf panel (lime wood?). 32.5 x 32.5 cm. Cradling. Restored. Minor damage. Minor damage to frame (53 x 44 cm). Dr. Anna Moraht-Fromm bestätigt in ihrer Stellungnahme die Autorschaft des Bernhard Strigel. Dieser war der letzte Spross einer über drei Generationen ausgesprochen produktiv wirkenden Maler- und Bildhauerfamilie in Memmingen. Bernhard Strigel, tätig in Memmingen und Ulm, war als Bildnismaler sehr erfolgreich. Wohl auf Vermittlung des Johannes Cuspinian trat er in den Dienst Kaiser Maximilians I. Somit wurde er nicht nur nachgefragter Porträtist von Mitgliedern der kaiserlichen Familie und das Adels. Auch das bürgerliche Patriziat saß ihm Modell. Als Vergleichsbeispiel zieht Moraht-Fromm Bernhard Strigels "Bildnis eines Mannes vor rotem Damast" (Öl auf Holz, 42,9 x 30,3 cm) der Sammlung Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid heran. Wenngleich der Dargestellte hier nach rechts gewandt ist, stimmen die Anlage der Komposition mit Landschaftshintergrund, die aufmerksam-angespannte Körperhaltung, das ausladende Barett und die strenge Mimik, welche den würdevollen Ausdruck beider Bildnisse verstärkt, überein. Vgl. zum Bildnis in Madrid: Lübbeke, Isolde (Bearb.), Early German Painting 1350-1550. The Thyssen-Bornemisza collection. Bd. 10. Stuttgart 1991, Kat.-Nr. 86 (mit Abb.). Dieses um 1525 datiert. Provenance: "Die Sammlung Albert Figdor - Wien. Erster Teil", volume 3. Berlin [Paul Cassierer - Artaria & Co. - Glückselig GmbH], 29-30 September 1930, page LIV f., catalogue number 98 (with illustration). There stated as a work by Bernhard Strigel and spruce as support. - There it was bought back via third parties commissioned by the heiress, owned by the family since then. Stellungnahme Dr. Anna Moraht-Fromm, Berlin, Mai 2024.
Bernhard Strigel, Nachfolge 1460 Memmingen - 1588 ebenda Emperor Maximilian I Oil auf panel. 28.8 x 23 cm. Damage to the upper right edge of the plate (outside the depiction). Painting rim. Restored. Minor damage to frame (38.5 x 32.5 cm). Das vorliegende Bildnis des Kaisers im Harnisch geht auf ein Porträt zurück, das Bernhard Strigel geschaffen hat. Das 1507 datierte Werk (Öl auf Holz, 77 x 48 cm) verbrannte 1947 im Straßburger Musée des Beaux Arts. Eine varrierende Kopie (Öl auf Holz, 80 x 49 cm), ehem. Sammlung Boisserée, heute Staatliche Gemäldegalerie in Augsburg erfreute sich offenbar gewisser Nachfrage. Von ihr sind weitere Wiederholungen bekannt. Der unbekannte Künstler des vorliegenden Bildnisses verwendet zwar das Vorbild des Porträts Strigels, modifiziert jedoch den Hintergrund, indem er den Kaiser vor einem grünen Vorhang wiedergibt, zudem verkleinert er das Format und verkürzt die halbfigurige Darstellung Strigels zum Brustbild. Die Platzierung der Hände wird dem Motiv des Brustbildes angepasst. Auf eine Fehlinformation des Restaurators gehen wohl die beiden gemalten dunklen Winkelstriche zwischen Nase und Oberlippe des Kaisers zurück. Dieser war kein Anhänger einer geckenhaften Moustache. Sehr wohl zeichnete Maximilian jedoch eine deutliche Falte oberhalb der Oberlippe aus, deren Rekonstruktion dem Restaurator ganz offenbar nicht glückte. provenance: according to the information given by the previous owners, acquired from the art dealer Max Wörndl, Munich. - Collection of Hans Constantin Faußner, Munich.
(Memmingen um 1460–1528 Memmingen) Umkreis, Anfang 16.Jh. Fragment einer Predella mit den Hl. Aposteln Matthias, Judas,Thaddäus und Philippus. Tempera auf Tannenholzplatte (Platte gebogen). 36x36 cm. Gerahmt. - Übermalungen.
Sforza, Maria Bianca (auch: Blanca, 1472-1510). Sitzendes Halbportrait der Kaiserin des Hl. Röm. Reiches im Hochoval "1494 Kayserin Maria Blanca 1511", darunter 2 Wappen. Seidenbrokat, auf Samt genäht mit Fransenborte, n. Bernhard Strigel (1460-1528), wohl 16. Jhdt. Ca. 34 x 26 bzw. 50 x 68 cm. Neu unterfüttert. - Tls. stärkere Alters- u. Gebrauchssp. Mit Fehlst.
Bernhard Strigel (Memmingen 1460-1528) Portrait of a gentleman of the Vöhlin family, with a fragment of a... oil on panel, a fragment, inset 14 ¼ x 14 3/8 in. (36 x 36.5 cm.)
Circle of, beginning of the 16th century, STRIGEL, BERNHARD (circa 1460 Memmingen 1528) Fragment of a predella: The apostles Matthew, Judas Thaddäus and Philip. Tempera on panel. 36 x 36 cm. Expertise: Dr. Bernd Konrad, 31.1.2017. Provenance: Swiss private collection. --------------- STRIGEL, BERNHARD (UMKREIS, ANFANG 16. JAHRHUNDERT) (um 1460 Memmingen 1528) Fragment einer Predella: Die Apostel Matthias, Judas Thaddäus und Philippus. Tempera auf Holz. 36 x 36 cm. Gutachten: Dr. Bernd Konrad, 31.1.2017. Provenienz: Schweizer Privatbesitz. Die Tafel bildete ursprünglich den rechten Teil einer seitlich geschwungenen Predella, die im Querformat sehr wahrscheinlich Christus und die zwölf Apostel darstellte.
Attributed to STRIGEL, BERNHARD (circa 1460 Memmingen 1528) Christ on the Mount of Olives. Circa 1520. Oil on panel. 76 x 57.2 cm. Expertise: Dr. Jaco Rutgers, 11.7.2014. Provenance: - Collection of an as yet unidentified cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, circa, circa 1630 (verso Siegel). - Swiss private collection. STRIGEL, BERNHARD (ZUGESCHRIEBEN) (um 1460 Memmingen 1528) Christus am Ölberg. Um 1520. Öl auf Holz. 76 x 57,2 cm. Gutachten: Dr. Jaco Rutgers, 11.7.2014. Provenienz: - Sammlung eines noch nicht identifizierten Kardinals der romanischen Kirche, um 1630 (verso Siegel). - Schweizer Privatsammlung. Bernhard Strigel, der aus der mittelalterlichen Werkstatt-Tradition hervor kommend in Memmingen tätig war, gilt als einer der führenden süddeutschen Meister am Übergang von der Spätgotik zur Renaissance. Sein Stil ist von demjenigen der nahe gelegenen Städten Augsburg und Nürnberg sowie von der Donauschule geprägt. Strigel vermochte es gekonnt, die lokale Maltradition mit seinen Beobachtungen der Natur zu verknüpfen, wie es insbesondere in seinen zahlreichen Porträts ebenso wie in den detaillierten Gesichtern des hier angebotenen Gemäldes ersichtlich wird. Typisch für Strigels Spätwerk ist die Verbindung von schweren und etwas schematischen Kleidern mit sehr individuellen, fein gemalten Gesichtszügen, welche ebenso in zwei Tafeln mit der Verkündigung und der Fusswaschung in der Staatlichen Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, zu sehen sind (siehe Otto, G.: Bernhard Strigel, München / Berlin 1964, Kat. Nr. 39d und 39e, Abb. 104 und 105). Die wulstigen Augen und schematischen Hände in unserem Gemälde sind ebenfalls typische Merkmale Strigels (siehe dazu Rettich: E.: Bernhard Strigel. Herkunft und Entfaltung seines Stils, Freiburg im Breisgau 1965, Abb. 2, 3, 28, 43 und 48-51). In keinem anderen Werk des Meisters jedoch ist die Landschaft so detailreich und fein gemalt wie in unserem Gemälde. Meisterhaft deutet Strigel hier in nur wenigen hellen Pinselstrichen die herannahende Soldatentruppe im rechten Hintergrund an. Die Darstellung bei Nacht von Christus am Ölberg, wie sie in der Bibel erzählt wird, war keine Selbstverständlichkeit zu Beginn des 16. Jahrhunderts in Zentraleuropa. Eine der wohl bekanntesten Beispiele ist Teil des Hlg. Sebastian-Altars von Albrecht Altdorfer im Augustiner Kloster in Sankt Florian. Die Darstellung einer nächtlichen Szenerie war damals eine technische Herausforderung, durch die der Künstler seine Virtuosität zur Schau stellen konnte, wie es Bernhard Strigel in dem hier angebotenen Gemälde meisterlich präsentiert.
Oil on panel Germany, circa 1900 Portrait of Sibylle von Freyberg, born Gossenbrod (1479-1521) Copy after a painting by Bernhard Strigel (around 1465/70-1528 ), Alte Pinakothek Munich Coat of arms painted on the reverse Partly gilt wood frame Overall dimensions, framed: 69 x 44.5 cm Provenance: Private collection, Germany At the time of historicism, old German paintings were rediscovered, including the present one by Bernhard Strigel, an icon of the German portraiture The present portrait painting is the work of a German artist from around 1900. It is a copy of a painting by Bernhard Strigel, now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. Already in his lifetime, Strigel's paintings were much copied. The present painting shows a portrait of Sibyle von Gossenbrod (1479-1521), the wife of Ludwig von Freyberg zu Öpfingen. The painter of the present composition has remained faithful to Strigel's painting, adding however a scroll that reads: „tis Bild ist nach Frau Sibilla von Freiberg ganz gerecht als lon arbeit /wie gesehen gar in der kleidung und bunt die seliglich gar 42/ jar irs alters aus diesem Jamertal verschaiden der alhmechtig/got wel ir sel genedig und barmherzig sein" (sic).Sibylle von Freyberg wears contemporary cloths and sits in front of a brocade curtain next to a window with a view of an open landscape. She wears the guild chain of the Swan Order around her neck. The back shows the painted coat of arms of Freyberg. There are some paint losses and framing marks. Inspection under UV light reveals small and large areas of retouching to the sky, the flesh tones and the clothing, some of them discolored. The wooden frame shows some wear and areas of restoration. The overall dimensions, framed, are 69 x 44.5 cm. The panel measures about 59 x 34.5 cm. Bernhard Strigel (1461-1528) From Memmingen, the painter Bernhard Strigel was born in a family of artists, and strongly influenced the Memminger School in Upper Swabia. In his early work, he was under the influence of the Ulm school. Later he was inspired by the Dutch examples. He worked as a court painter to Maximilian I, and painted numerous portraits that have been copied several times. Remarkably, the Emperor chose neither Dürer,yet Burkmaier or Breu for this position. Strigel's portrait of Maximilian is the only known portrait of the Emperor in full coronation regalia. Many of Strigel's works are still located in their original locations, including the works in the Blaubeuren monastery. In Memmingen, there is the Strigel Museum. Other works are on display in important museum collections, including the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg, the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart or the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. Shipping costs excl. statutory VAT and plus 2,5% (+VAT) shipping insurance. Due to the legal obligation for the resale royalty in the art market the following applies: As a result of its membership in the AV Kunst, Auctionata charges additionally to the hammer price the contribution to the AV Kunst of currently 2.1% of the revenues from the sale of fine arts and photographs pro rata towards the buyer. More information about royalty right in our T&C.
STRIGEL, BERNHARD (um 1460 Memmingen 1528) Hl. Christophorus mit Christuskind und Laurentius / Hl. Martin mit Bettler und Judas Thaddäus. Um 1485-90. Öl auf Holz. Je 46 x 72 cm. Gutachten: Dr. Bernd Konrad, 23.1.2013. Provenienz: - Sehr wahrscheinlich von einer Schweizer Kirche in Graubünden beauftragt. - Schloss Marschlins, Landquart. - Schweizer Privatsammlung. Literatur: - Poeschel, Erwin: Kdm Schweiz, Graubünden IV, Band 13, Die Täler im Vorderrhein, 1. Teil. Das Gebiet von Tamins bis Somvix, Basel 1942, S. 293-294. - Rettich, Edeltraud: Bernhard Strigel. Herkunft und Entfaltung seines Stils. Diss. Phil. Freiburg i. Br. 1965, S. 187-189, Abb. 1a und 1b. - Stange, Alfred: Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, Band II, München 1970, S. 194, Nr. 857b (als Werkstatt von Hans d. J. und Yvo Strigel). - Beckerath, Astrid von: Spätgotische Flügelaltäre in Graubünden und im Fürstentum Liechtenstein, Chur 1998, S. 252, Nr. 95. - Konrad, Bernd: Alfred Stange. Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, Band II, Radolfzell 2009, Nr. 857b mit Abb. (als Bernhard Strigel). Dr. Bernd Konrad datiert diese Tafeln in die frühe Schaffensphase des Künstlers um 1485-90. Er weist zudem darauf hin, dass sie wohl einst die Rückseiten von Predellen eines sehr grossen Retabels bildeten, die wahrscheinlich im Rahmengehäuse mit den Vorderseiten zusammengesteckt waren. Möglicherweise weisen sie auf ein verlorenes Mittelstück hin, wie am Blaubeurener Hochaltar von 1493-94 zu sehen ist, an dem Strigel zusammen mit Bartholomäus Zeitblom (um 1455-1518) arbeitete. Weitere schwäbische Retabel, beispielsweise der Hochaltar in St. Ursula in Rottenburg-Oberndorf oder zwei Tafeln in der Spitalkapelle von Pfullendorf (siehe Konrad, 2009, Nr. 315), weisen ebenfalls diese geteilten Predellen mit einer Darstellung Christi im Zentrum auf. Ob es sich bei unserem Retabel, wie es Rettich vermutet (siehe Literatur), um das für Brigels 1486 entstandene Altarwerk handelt (siehe Konrad, 2009, Nr. 867), bei dem ebenfalls noch Wandmalereien von Strigel erhalten sind, ist derzeit noch nicht zu bestätigen, aber scheint laut Konrad eine glaubwürdige Hypothese zu sein. STRIGEL, BERNHARD (circa 1460 Memmingen 1528) Saint Christopher with Jesus and Saint Lawrence /Saint Martin with a beggar and Judas Thaddaeus. Circa 1485-90. Oil on panel. Each 46 x 72 cm. Expertise: Dr. Bernd Konrad, 23.1.2013. Provenance: - probably commissioned by a Swiss church in Graubünden - Schloss Marschlins, Landquart. - Swiss private collection. Literature: - Poeschel, Erwin: Kdm Schweiz, Graubünden IV, Vol 13, Die Täler im Vorderrhein, 1st part. Das Gebiet von Tamins bis Somvix, Basel 1942, pp. 293-294. - Rettich, Edeltraud: Bernhard Strigel. Herkunft und Entfaltung seines Stils. Diss. Phil. Freiburg i. Br. 1965, pp. 187-189, fig. 1a and 1b. - Stange, Alfred: Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, vol II, Munich 1970, p. 194, No. 857b (as workshop of Hans d. J. and Yvo Strigel). - Beckerath, Astrid von: Spätgotische Flügelaltäre in Graubünden und im Fürstentum Liechtenstein, Chur 1998, p. 252, No. 95. - Konrad, Bernd: Alfred Stange. Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, vol II, Radolfzell 2009, No. 857b with ill. (as Bernhard Strigel).
BERNHARD STRIGEL um 1460 oder 1461-1528 Memmingen Werkstatt Hl. Anna Selbdritt Öl auf Holz, 90,5 x 82 cm Sehr wahrscheinlich Teil eines ehemaligen Flügelaltars; auf der Rückseite sind Spuren von abgenommenen Reliefs zweier stehender Heiligenfiguren. Wir danken Herrn Ludwig Meyer, Archiv für Kunstgeschichte, München, für die freundliche Unterstützung bei der Bestimmung des Werkes (Mitteilung vom 2. September 2011)
BERNHARD STRIGEL um 1460 oder 1461-1528 Memmingen Hl. Anna Selbdritt Sehr wahrscheinlich Teil eines ehemaligen Flügelaltars; auf der Rückseite sind Spuren von abgenommenen Reliefs zweier stehender Heiligenfiguren. Öl auf Holz, 90,5 x 82 cm
BERNHARD STRIGEL Hl. Anna Selbdritt Werkstatt um 1460 oder 1461-1528 Memmingen Öl auf Holz, 90,5 x 82 cm Sehr wahrscheinlich Teil eines ehemaligen Flügelaltars; auf der Rückseite sind Spuren von abgenommenen Reliefs zweier stehender Heiligenfiguren. Wir danken Ludwig Meyer, München, für die freundliche Unterstützung bei der Bestimmung des Werkes (2. September 2011).
WORKSHOP OF BERNHARD STRIGEL MEMMINGEN 1460 – 1528 PORTRAIT OF EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN I WEARING GOLDEN ARMOUR WITH THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE AROUND HIS NECK AND HOLDING A SCEPTRE AND SWORD oil on panel 83.6 by 51.5 cm.; 33 by 20 1/4 in.
THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR A PORTRAIT OF JOHANNES CUSPINIAN, WITH HIS SECOND WIFE AGNES, AND HIS SONS FROM HIS FIRST MARRIAGE: SEBASTIAN FELIX AND NICOLAUS CHRISTOSTOMUS A PORTRAIT OF JOHANNES CUSPINIAN, WITH HIS SECOND WIFE AGNES, AND HIS SONS FROM HIS FIRST MARRIAGE: SEBASTIAN FELIX AND NICOLAUS CHRISTOSTOMUS measurements note 71 by 62 cm.; 28 by 24 1/2 in. inscribed in latin: on a painted tablet upper centre: FILII COLITE DEVM/ DISCITE PRVDENCIA/ DILIGITE HONESTATE (Sons, respect(?) God/ Learn prudence/Esteem honesty) inscribed above the head of Cuspinian: ZEBEDEVS inscribed above the head of his wife: SALOME VXOR.I.PACIFICA/ QVAI FILIOS PAC S GENVIT. inscribed above the head of his eldest son: JACOBVS MAIOR/ CHRISTO.COEVVS Inscribed on the parapet to the right of the younger son: IONNES... E/ CHRIS...A Inscribed at length on the reverse (see below) oil on softwood panel PROVENANCE Solly collection, Berlin; Until 1913 in the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum, Berlin; Graf Wilczek, Burg Kreuzenstein, Lower Austria, from 1913; Thence by descent, subsequently at Schloß Seebarn, Lower Austria, until after 1964; Bought by the present owner in 1989. LITERATURE W. von Bode, "Bernhard Strigel, der sog. Meister der Sammlung Hirscher", in Jahrbuch der Preu~ischen Kunstsammlungen, II, 1881, p. 54 ff. (where the inscription on the reverse is given); L. Scheibler, "Verzeichnis der Werke Bernhard Strigels", in Jahrbuch der Preu~ischen Kunstsammlungen, vol. II, 1881, p. 59; L. Balda~, "Die Bildnisse Kaiser Maximilians", in Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen der Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, vol. 31, Vienna 1913, p. 273; H. Ankwicz, "Bernhard Strigel in Wien", in Kunst und Kunsthandwerk, 1916, p. 306 ff.; F.X. Weizinger, "Die Malerfamilie der Strigel in der ehemals freien Reichsstadt Memmingen", in Festschrift des Münchener Altertumsvereins, Munich 1914, p. 144; B. Lázár, "Bernhard Strigels Wladislausbildnis", in Studien zur Kunstgeschichte, Vienna 1917, p. 53 ff.; A.L. Mayer, "Bernhard Strigel als Porträtmaler", in Pantheon, vol. III, 1929, p. 9; 'Baum.' in F. Thieme & U. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler, vol. 32, Leipzig 1938, p. 188; A Stange, Deutsche Malerei der Gotik, vol. VIII, Munich-Berlin 1957, 8, p. 148; H. Ankwicz, Der Wiener Humanist Johannes Cuspinian, 1959, p. 190 ff.; G. Otto, Bernhard Strigel, Munich-Berlin, 1964, pp. 74-5, 104-5, no. 77, reproduced fig. 144; M.J. Friedländer & J. Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, London 1978, p. 67, under nos 6-7; E. Rettich, in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, London 1996, vol. 29, p. 773. NOTE The inscription on the reverse incorporates Strigel's signature and the date October 1520, and names the sitters. It was first transcribed by Von Bode. Since then it has been restored, and now reads as follows (note the third line now starts with the word REGIONIS, but the original may have read LEGIONIS, as Von Bode thought): ANNO HVMANAE REPARACIONIS MDXX: MENSE OCTOBRI LEONE X. PONT. MAX. QVVM CAROLVS V. PHILIPPI CASTELLAE R[L]EGIONIS AC GRANATAE REGIS FILIVS AQVISGRANI I REGE RO CREARETVR AC RO. CAESAR DESIGNARETVR BERNARDI- NVS STRIGIL. PICTOR. CIVIS MEMINGEN.NOBILIS.QVI SOLVS EDICTO CAESARE MAXIMILIANV. VT OLIM APELLES ALEXAN- DRVM PINGERE IVSSVS HAS IMAGINES MANV SINISTRA PER SPECVLA FERME SEXAGENARIVS VIENNAE PINGEBAT Johannes Cuspinianus doctor francus ex schweinfurt olim caes. Aug. Maximiliani imp. a consilius et ad reges Hungariae Boemiae ac Poloniae. Vladislau Ludovicu et Sigismundu orator Caroliq V. Caes. Consiliarius ac locu tenens in senatu Vienen. que Vulg Anwaldu apellat. Ex prima coniuge Anna octo liberos genu[it] e quibus hic Sebastianus Foelix annu agebat etatis quintudecimu minor natu Nicolaus Chrisostomus duodecimu: genitor horu duodequinquagesimu Hagnes nouerca quadragesimuprim[u]. [PR]IMA TABVLA HABET IMAGINES MAXIMILIANI CAES AVG. [M]ARIAE DVCISSAE BVRGVNDIAE FILIAE DVCIS PHIL. [F]ILII REGNIS CASTELLAE CAROLI. V. IMP. AVG. FERDINAN. [IN] [F]ANTIS HISP. ARCHIDVCVM AC NEPOTVM CAES. ET LVDOVI[CI] [REG]IS HVNGARIAE AC BOHEMIAE In the year of human reparation (i.e. salvation) 1520 in the month of October when Leo X was Pope, while Charles V, son of Philip, king of Castille, Leon and Granada, was being created King of the Romans at Aachen and being designated Caesar, Bernhard Strigel, painter, citizen of Memmingen, noble, who alone having been ordered by edict to paint Caesar Maximilian, as once Apelles [painted] Alexander with his left hand, through a looking-glass, at nearly sixty years old he painted these likenesses at Vienna. Johannes Cuspinian, a free doctor from Schweinfurt, [was?] at one time by counsel to Caesar Augustus Maximilian the Emperor and to the kings of Hungary, Bohemia and Poland, Vladislaw[,] Ludovicus and Sigismund and orator to Charles V, his counsellor and representative in the Viennese senate, which is called Anwald in the local tongue. With his first wife Anna he brought forth eight children and of these this Sebastian Felix was fifteen years old, younger by birth Nicolaus Chrisostomus twelve years old, their father forty-eight, their stepmother Agnes forty-one. The first panel has likenesses of Maximilian Caesar Augustus, of Mary the duchess of Burgundy, daughter of Duke Charles, of their son Philip of the kingdom of Castille, Charles V Emperor Augustus, Ferdinand the Infante of Spain, of archdukes and nephews of the Emperor and Ludovicus king of Hungary and Bohemia. Although he lived in Memmingen in Swabia all his life, Strigel was often in the service of the Imperial court, and he travelled to Vienna in 1515, summoned by the Emperor Maximilian to paint the Imperial family. He made a second visit in 1520, when he painted the present portrait group. The inscription on the reverse gives us a great deal of information about the painter as well as his sitters, including his age of almost sixty, that he was a citizen of Memmingen, that he was left handed and used a looking or magnifyning glass, that he was ennobled and that he was the only painter commanded to paint the Emperor Maximilian I, and was his Court Painter. As the inscription on the reverse states, this portrait was painted by Strigel in Vienna in October 1520. It portrays the Viennese humanist Dr. Johannes Cuspinianus at the age of 48, with his second wife Agnes, aged 41, and his sons by his first marriage, Sebastian Felix, aged fifteen, and Nikolaus Chrysostomus, aged twelve (they had eight children in all). Cuspinian's real name was Spiessheimer, and as the inscription on the reverse states, he came from Schweinfurt in Franconia, where he was born in 1473. He was an historian at the University of Vienna, where he was appointed Rector in 1500, and Professor in 1508. Cuspinian also received the position of chief librarian of the Imperial Library, and was superintendent of the archives of the imperial family. As curator of the university he exercised great influence on its development, although he was not able to prevent the decline caused by the political and religious disturbances of the second decade of the sixteenth century. He was on terms of friendship with the most noted humanists and scholars; the calling of his friend Celtes to Vienna is especially due to him. Celtes and he were the leading spirits of the literary association called the Sodalitas Litterarum Danubiana. He undertook diplomatic work for Maximilian I, including arranging a settlement between the Habsburg line and the Kings of Hungary and Bohemia, (an event referred to in the inscription on the reverse of the present panel). In 1515 Maximilian appointed him as his chief councillor, and he was made Prefect of Vienna in the same year. He was later advisor to Maximilian's successor, Charles V. Of his publications, the best-known is his History of the Roman Emperors, prepared during the years 1512-22, and which probably influenced Maximilian, and strengthened the connections between them. For a long time, especially after the battle of Mohács, he busied himself with the Turkish question and printed both political and historical writings on the subject, the most important of which is his De Turcarum origine, religione et tyrannide. He died in 1529, one year after Strigel. After the death of his first wife, Anna, Cuspinian married in 1514 Agnes, daughter of Bürgermeister Stainer of Wiener Neustadt, who was probably a widow. The commission to paint Cuspinian and his family may have come through the sitter's close connections at Court, but as Otto (see Literature) noted, his second wife Agnes had connections with Memmingen. Her sister Margaretha was married to the Memmingen nobleman Alexius Funk, who also served as Bürgermeister at Wiener Neustadt, but who is buried in the Martinskirche at Memmingen (Strigel had earlier painted the Epitaph for Funk's kinsman Hans Funk the Younger, now at Schaffhausen). Cuspinianus and his first wife Anna had eighteen years earlier been portrayed by Lucas Cranach the Elder in pendant portraits, probably painted to celebrate their marriage in 1502. They may well be Cranach's earliest surviving portraits, done early in his sojourn in Vienna, and were originally conceived as the two constituent parts of a diptych, since the horizon of the landscape background is contiguous (they are in Winterthur, Sammlung Oskar Reinhart; see Friedländer, under Literature, reproduced figs 6 & 7). In its format and iconography, the present portrait is a conscious repitition of Strigel's Portrait of the Emperor Maximilian I and his Family (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), painted five years earlier. The connection is specified in the inscription on the reverse, where the Vienna portrait is described as ('PRIMA TABVLA..'). Both are on panels of similar size, and in both, the inscriptions on the front, painted in the same script above the heads of the sitters, evoke the names of members of the Holy Kinship, the family of Our Lord. The Vienna portrait group was formerly, and originally, the left wing of a diptych, with a Holy Kinship (now separated from it) forming the right wing, and the present painting was almost certainly also paired as a diptych with a Holy Kinship. For Cuspinianus to have commissioned his own family portrait as part of such a diptych in imitation of the Imperial one might have led to charges of lèse majesté. The circumstances of Strigel's visit to Vienna in 1520 are not known, but they must have been closely connected with the aftermath of Maximilian's death in 1519. His successor Charles V was elected Emperor on 28th June 1520, and the inscription on the reverse of this panel places this event in the past tense. We do not know if Strigel was summoned to Vienna by Charles V, or whether he felt it necessary to be there, as the previous Emperor's court painter, to establish his credentials with the new regime. If so, it may have been Cuspinian who brought him there, and his invitation aranged via Cuspinian's brother-in-law, Strigel's fellow Memminger Alexius Funk. Both Strigel and Cuspinian would have had strong grounds for wishing to re-establish their credentials with the new regime, and Strigel's portrait of Cuspinian and his family, painted this way and with the telling inscription on the reverse, shows him as a man to be highly regarded by Emperors and as one enjoying Imperial favour, and Strigel in a similar light, and as their natural choice as portraitist. In this last regard, Strigel seems to have been unsuccessful, since no portraits by him of Charles V or of his family are known. In all these important respects, the present picture and the Vienna Maximilian portrait group are unique in Strigel's ~uvre: most of his other portraits, including all those made for the Habsburg Court, are of single sitters. Absent from the Vienna Maximilian portrait however, is any equivalent to the tablet in the present work bearing an exhortation to Cuspinian's sons to fear God, be prudent and honest.
