Hans Baldung Grien, 'Portrait of a Man', 1514

Portrait of a Man

Hans Baldung Grien

Not on display

About the work

Overview

Although we do not know his name, we can tell a lot about Baldung Grien’s mature sitter from the details of his costume. The large fur collar of his coat, the jewel on his cap and the two gold chains around his neck show off his wealth. The longer chain bears two badges: the Virgin and Child within a crescent moon and surrounded by rays, and a bird of prey and a fish facing each other.

The first badge is the emblem of the Order of Our Lady of the Swan, a religious group that only admitted members of the nobility. The second is the insignia of the elite Society to the Falcon and Fish, a group that organised jousting tournaments for the noblemen based in the southern German region of Swabia.

In-depth

While the badge of the Virgin and Child is not worn here with one of a swan (as it is in a portrait of a lady by an anonymous German artist that is now in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid), it is recognisable as the emblem of the Order of Our Lady of the Swan, a religious group that only admitted members of the nobility. Founded in the 1440s by the Elector Frederick II of Brandenburg, the Order was at the height of its popularity in the late fifteenth century, when this portrait was made. The other emblem is the insignia of the elite Society to the Falcon and Fish, a group that organised jousting tournaments for the noblemen based in the southern German region of Swabia.

The white semicircles to the bottom right are part of the sleeve of the man’s shirt; the portrait was cut down at the bottom at some point before it entered the National Gallery’s collection. When it was bought by the Gallery it included the monogram used as a signature by the celebrated German painter Albrecht Dürer, in whose studio Baldung Grien may have worked. When this was discovered to be fake it was removed. The date inscribed above the sitter’s head was, however, confirmed by technical analysis to be original.

The designs of the badges are drawn in black over a gold background. Their two-dimensionality contrasts with the illusionism of the rest of the portrait, for example where Baldung Grien has applied white highlights to the strands of the man’s long hair to convey its sheen or painted the natural whorls in the fur collar.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Portrait of a Man
Artist: Hans Baldung Grien
Artist dates: 1484/5 - 1545
Date made: 1514
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 59.3 × 48.9 cm
Inscription summary: Dated
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1854
Inventory number: NG245
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 20th-century Replica Frame

Provenance

The painting is first recorded in the sale of Edmond Joly de Bammeville, Christie’s, London, 12 June 1854, lot 35 (as by Dürer). Edmond Joly de Bammeville (1817–1893), a connoisseur, collector of sculpture and descendant of a family of Protestant textile merchants from Saint-Quentin, had also made an extensive collection of paintings including many northern European works and a fresco by Pintoricchio now in the National Gallery (NG 911); at the time of the sale he had interests in a French jewellery company in London, Morel et Cie. The picture was bought for the National Gallery at the sale.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Susan Foister, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The German Paintings before 1800’, London 2024; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2014

Strange Beauty: Masters of the German Renaissance

The National Gallery (London)

19 February 2014 - 11 May 2014
2019

Hans Baldung Grien: sacred | profane

Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe

30 November 2019 - 8 March 2020

Bibliography

1854

Christie & Manson, Catalogue of the Very Choice Collection of Pictures of E. J. de Bammeville, Esq., London, 12 June 1854
1857

W. Bürger, Trésors d'art exposés à Manchester en 1857 et provenant des collections royales, des collections publiques et des collections particulières de la Grande Bretagne par W. Burger, Paris 1857
1889

R. Stiassny, 'Das Skizzenbuch Hans Baldung Grüns', Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, XXIV, 1889
1894

G. von Térey, Verzeichnis der Gemälde des Hans Baldung Grien, Baden-Baden 1894
1904

F. Baumgarten, Der Frieburger Hochaltar, Strasbourg 1904
1905

P. Ganz, 'Die Abzeichen der Ritterorden im Mittelalter', Schweizerisches Archiv für Heraldik, XX, 1905
1906

F. Rieffel, 'Einige Bemerkungen über Hans Baldung', in Friedrich Schneider zum 70sten Geburtstage, Fribourg 1906, pp. 85-9
1922

H. Schmitz, Hans Baldung, Bielefeld 1922
1923

H. Curjel, Hans Baldung Grien, Munich 1923
1939

O. Fischer, Hans Baldung Grien, Munich 1939
1941

H. Perseke, Hans Baldungs Schaffen in Freiburg, Fribourg 1941
1953

C. Koch, 'Kataloge der erhaltenen Gemälde, der Einblattholzschnitte und illustrierten Bücher von Hans Baldung Grien', Kunstchronik, VI, 1953
1959

Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The German Schools, London 1959
1966

G. Bussmann, Manierismus im Spätwerk Hans Baldung Grien. Die Gemälde der zweiten Straßburger Zeit, Heidelberg 1966
1970

A. Burkhard, The Freiburg Altar of Hans Baldung, Munich 1970
1983

G. von der Osten, Hans Baldung Grien: Gemälde und Dokumente, Berlin 1983
1985

A. Smith, Early Netherlandish and German Paintings, London 1985
1997

R. Billinge et al., 'Methods and Materials of Northern European Painting in the National Gallery, 1400–1550', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XVIII, 1997, pp. 6-52
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2024

S. Foister, National Gallery Catalogues: The German Paintings before 1800, 2 vols, London 2024

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

More works by Hans Baldung Grien

The Trinity and Mystic Pietà

Hans Baldung Grien

The Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist stand in Christ’s red marble tomb supporting his lifeless body. He is partially covered by a burial shroud, but the spear wound on his side is visible. The Virgin mourns her son, wiping her eyes with her veil. John the Evangelist places his hand to hi...

Not on display

The Virgin and Child ('The Madonna with the Iris')

Workshop of Albrecht Dürer with Hans Baldung Grien

The Virgin Mary breastfeeds the infant Christ in a walled garden surrounded by flowers. God the Father, a small figure radiating light, appears in the sky above. The image of the Virgin and Christ Child in a garden was derived from the poetic imagery of the Song of Solomon, a book of the Old Test...

Not on display

Hans Baldung Grien, 'Portrait of a Man', 1514

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Exhibition history

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Hans Baldung Grien