Lot 66: Hermann tom Ring (Munster, 1520/1-1595/97)

Portrait of a gentleman, half-length, in a black costume and fur-trimmed coat, a gold chain with a pendant of Emperor Valentinian I, a letter in his left hand, his hands resting upon a wooden ledge with a twig of rosemary, a violet and a stock-gilliflower
signed with monogram and dated '15OM51' (OM linked, lower centre) and inscribed 'PVLVIS ET VMBRA SVMVS' (upper centre)
oil on panel
66.8 x 46.1 cm.

Maastricht, Bonnefantenmuseum, on long-term loan from the Rijksdienst voor Beeldende Kunst (subsequently Instituut Collectie Nederland).
Munster, Westfälischen Landesmuseums für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Die Maler tom Ring, 1 September-10 November 1996, I, p. 95, II, pp. 444-5, no. 103, p. 554, no. 36, illustrated.

P. Pieper, 'Ein Muttergottesbild von Hermann tom Ring', Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums, Nuremberg, 1964, p. 68, illustrated.

Given to the Rijksdienst voor Beeldende Kunst for safe-keeping by the parents of the present owner, 1940.
Instituut Collectie Nederland, inv. no. C397.
Restituted to the present owner in 2003.

THE PROPERTY OF A NOBLEMAN (LOT 42 AND 66)

Like his father, Ludger tom Ring I (1496-1547), Hermann is said to have trained and worked as a journeyman in the northern Netherlands. After 1544, Tom Ring placed his art entirely at the service of his native city, Munster.

Tom Ring's portraits of the Wesphalian nobility are quite striking, despite the static poses of his sitters and the artist's concentration on his subjects' heads and hands.

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