Rings, ruffs and peaches: Volker Hermes playfully reimagines Old Master paintings

In 2007 the German artist Volker Hermes began digitally altering Old Master paintings, obscuring the faces of the subjects in delightfully surreal photocollages. The resulting Hidden Portraits are at once witty and thought-provoking: by augmenting elements from the clothing and backgrounds of these painting, he playfully points to signifiers of wealth, power and status that are key to understanding art from this period. ‘My works try to open up new ways into these paintings from 300 years ago,’ Volker tells Christie’s. ‘By hiding the face with elements of the portrait itself, I can change the focus.’ The series is the subject of a new book, Volker Hermes: Hidden Portraits: Old Masters Reimagined, published by Acc Art Books in 2024.

In anticipation of Classic Week at Christie’s New York, Hermes created photocollages in response to works by Frans Hals, Lucas Cranach I, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and more offered in Old Masters and in Old Master Paintings and Sculpture: Part II on 5 February and the preceding Old Master & British Drawings on 4 February. From his studio in Düsseldorf, Hermes shares his experience of delving into the intricate details adorning these portrait sitters, from a feathered heraldic emblem to Cleopatra’s threatening snake.

Ruffed up

‘By multiplying this ruff until he’s more or less drowning in it, I’m underscoring the importance of fashion items we no longer wear. Black clothes were incredibly expensive and the ruff was another sign of status and wealth — as well as masculinity. The feathers hanging down come from the heraldic symbol in the corner, which would have provided important information about the sitter’s family background. It’s beautifully painted with these vivid brushstrokes, and I thought I could point that out by putting them in the centre of the attention close to the face. I really try to make my works plausible, to treat the additions like real fashion accessories, using only what’s in the painting. So I when I found this ring on his belt, I thought it would be good way to attach them. I also gave him a ring on his outstretched finger. His gesture is so welcoming and open. It’s like he’s offering it to the viewer.’

A mountain of a man

‘Here you have this massive figure, like a mountain. You sense this was a very powerful person. But there are so many delicate details, like the pendant of the Order of the Golden Fleece that hangs from the chain around his neck. The blue in the background and on his ring is an expensive pigment, and it brings so much openness to the portrait. I made him a helmet using elements from the chain and ring. When George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony, lost his wife, he decided to stop cutting his beard as a sign of mourning. I allowed a glimpse of him through the helmet, so you can see his melancholic eyes.’

An ‘it’ girl of influence

‘The beautiful young woman is sitting in this strange chair with this gold curve that brings everything into motion. In my photocollage, it becomes a piece of fabric that wraps around her in a precious wave, and I collected all her jewellery into a glamorous headpiece. Antique dress like this was very fashionable at the time. Vigée Le Brun herself was a kind of hipster painter, an “it girl,” and this painting reflects that.’

Delight in the details

‘What we often don’t get today is that these portraits were depicting cool guys. I thought, how can I transform this coolness in a contemporary language? I thought this kind of Zorro mask would. I also wanted to point to the amazing details on the collar, like these tiny red tassels. So I made them bigger and used them to adorn the mask.’

Sweet and abundant

‘It’s very coquettish, this portrait. Some visual metaphors have survived through the ages — peaches are still a metaphor for beauty and freshness today. She’s flirting, so I kept one eye out from behind the peaches. She’s got this amazing lace on her decolletage, which I transformed into bows.’

Captive of one’s imagination

‘This is a sweet guy. I love him. But he’s not really communicating with the viewer. He’s obviously in his own world. And he has this ring that must be very precious to him. I chose to frame this very introverted face with a curtain of rings, emphasizing this feeling of being in your own world.’

Finessing the already intricate

‘I feel almost like this artist reborn! It was an interesting challenge to interpret a work that’s so over-the-top already. It almost drove me crazy — I really had to embrace the intricate technique of the drawing, isolating single lines and putting them together to create shadows and highlights, as in the pearls. Exaggerating what is already exaggerated, without making it look ridiculous, but rather to emphasize the extraordinary magnificence of the original, was a great privilege for me.’

Fate and splendor

‘Cleopatra is a historical figure, but in art she is often a male projection of different images of women through the centuries. From Femme fatal to victim, and sometimes an opportunity to show breasts. I made this floral overlayer to point to her position as a powerful woman who was known as a seducer of men but who is also very vulnerable, existing in this kind of cage of the male gaze. I also created a collar, like those worn by the pharaohs, and moved the asp from her breast to her crown, as in many crowns from Ancient Egypt.’