Lot 151
151
JOHANN HAUSSER VON ACH (ACTIVE ASCHAFFENBURG AND MAINZ 1603-1612)
JOHANN HAUSSER VON ACH (ACTIVE ASCHAFFENBURG AND MAINZ 1603-1612)
JOHANN HAUSSER VON ACH (ACTIVE ASCHAFFENBURG AND MAINZ 1603-1612)
JOHANN HAUSSER VON ACH (ACTIVE ASCHAFFENBURG AND MAINZ 1603-1612)
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JOHANN HAUSSER VON ACH (ACTIVE ASCHAFFENBURG AND MAINZ 1603-1612)

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Details
JOHANN HAUSSER VON ACH (ACTIVE ASCHAFFENBURG AND MAINZ 1603-1612)
The Adoration of the Shepherds
signed 'IAN HAVSER / VŌ. ACH' (lower centre, on the manger) and dated '1603' (lower left, on the rock)
oil on copper
15 5⁄8 x 11 7⁄8 in. (39.7 x 30.2 cm.)
inscribed 'GLORIA EXCELSIS DE[O]...' (upper centre, on the banner)
Provenance
Dr. Alfred Peltzer (1875-1914), Berlin, by 1908.
Kerstin Peltzer (according to an inscription on the reverse).
Anonymous sale [Property of a New York Philanthropist]; The Potomack Company, Virginia, 6 October 2020, lot 505, as 'Jan Hausser von Aachen, possibly Hans von Aachen'.
Literature
R.A. Peltzer, 'Hans Hausser von Aachen', in T. von Frimmel, ed., Blätter für Gemäldekunde, IV, Vienna, 1908, pp. 130, 132 and 134, illustrated, as Hans von Aachen'.
R.A. Peltzer, 'Der Hofmaler Hans von Aachen, seine Schule und seine Zeit', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, XXX, no. 3, 1912, p. 60, note 9.
H. Vollmer, ed., Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, XVI, Leipzig, 1923, p. 150.
H. Geissler, Zeichnung in Deutschland. Deutsche Zeichner 1540-1640, exhibition catalogue, II, Stuttgart, 1979, p. 56.
T. DaCosta Kauffman, Art and Architecture in Central Europe 1550-1620 - an annotated bibliography, Marburg, 2003, p. 119.

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Lucy Speelman
Lucy Speelman Junior Specialist, Head of Part II
+44 207 752 3074

Lot Essay


The details of Johann Hausser von Ach's life and oeuvre are virtually unknown; he was frequently conflated with his more notable contemporary, Hans von Aachen (1552-1615), one of northern Europe's leading Mannerists. Rudolf Peltzer, who lay crucial groundwork for our understanding of the the latter master's career, once considered the two to be one and the same, before revising his opinion in his seminal article of 1912 (Jahrbuch, loc. cit.). Only two paintings, both on copper, have historically and consistently been given to Hausser von Ach: the present work, and an Ecce Homo at the Schlossgalerie Aschaffenburg (inv. no. 6421).

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