Lot 123: Balthasar Denner (Hamburg 1685-1749 Rostock)

Balthasar Denner (Hamburg 1685-1749 Rostock) Portrait of an old man in a fur-trimmed coat oil on panel 42.5 x 34.4 cm.

42.5 x 34.4 cm.

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 16 December 1927, lot 76. Anonymous sale; Leo Schidloff, Vienna, 28 March 1928, lot 30 (AS 12.000 to a private Austrian collector). Anonymous sale; Dorotheum, Vienna, 7 November 1991, lot 70, where acquired by the present owner.

Balthasar Denner was born in a Mennonite family in the city of Altona, at the time part of the Danish Kingdom (nowadays part of Hamburg). In 1696 the family moved to Danzig, where Denner began his career as a miniaturist and in 1707 he became a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. During his lifetime he travelled extensively and worked for several European courts. He was internationally acclaimed for his half-length portraits and head studies, depicted with a meticulous handling of the brush and a remarkable eye for physiognomy and the effects of growing old. It has been suggested that his painting of Saint Jerome in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, might depict the same model.