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Lot Essay
First recorded by Berenson (loc. cit.), as a work by Jacopo de' Barbari, the author of this early portrait remains elusive. Stange and Winzinberger both regarded it as a work by Altdorfer who, along with such artists as Hans von Kulmbach and Jan Gossart, was strongly influenced by the work of the Italian artist. However, as noted by Dr. Kurt Löcher, to whom we are very grateful for his assistance in cataloguing this lot, the fact that only one such portrait by Altdorfer is known (the Portrait of a lady in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, the attribution of which is in any case uncertain), makes that attribution hard to confirm. Dr. Löcher notes, however, the stylistic influence of Regensburg, and of Altdorfer in particular, remarking that '[das Bild] steht keinem Maler näher als Altdorfer.'
Dr. Ludwig Meyer, to whom we are also very grateful, suggests that the artist may possibly be the Monogrammist TK, the unknown author of the portraits of Georg Thurzo and his wife Anna Fugger also in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, both of which are signed with that artist's monogram and dated 1518. Dr. Meyer also notes that the initials on the reverse (which would originally have been the outer face of a diptych) of the present work are likely to represent those of the sitter, rather than the artist, accompanied by his coat-of-arms.
Dr. Ludwig Meyer, to whom we are also very grateful, suggests that the artist may possibly be the Monogrammist TK, the unknown author of the portraits of Georg Thurzo and his wife Anna Fugger also in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, both of which are signed with that artist's monogram and dated 1518. Dr. Meyer also notes that the initials on the reverse (which would originally have been the outer face of a diptych) of the present work are likely to represent those of the sitter, rather than the artist, accompanied by his coat-of-arms.