62) Half-bo…
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Estimate €40,000 - €60,000

Description

Attributed to Christoph AMBERGER (1500/10 - 1561/62) Half-body portrait of a man Basswood panel, two boards, reinforced 83 x 65 cm Wax stamp on the reverse of the Office for the Export of Works of Art in Florence. Provenance : Possibly Countess de Behague and Marquis de Ganay collection; Chez Pardo, Paris, circa 1950; Collection of Mr Marcel Leclercq-Masurel, Roubaix, 1959. The work is linked to the German Renaissance, during which the individual portrait underwent a major development. This tradition was structured in particular by the figures of Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein the Younger, the latter trained in Germanic circles before pursuing his career in England in the service of Henry VIII. Both helped to establish models of representation based on a high degree of individualisation and a strong focus on the presence of the model. In this context, other painters such as Christoph Amberger and Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder played an important role in the development of portraiture in the southern regions of the Holy Roman Empire. Their work, although only partially preserved and sometimes difficult to attribute with certainty, bears witness to the spread of these models in urban and patrician circles. The use of a monochrome background is one of the recurring formal characteristics of 16th-century European portraiture. Far from being a simple choice of neutrality, this device contributes to the construction of the image by isolating the figure from any spatial or narrative context. It allows us to focus on the face and costume, while reinforcing the presence of the model. In this context, the green background appears to be a particularly widespread variant. It was used by leading painters such as Albrecht Dürer in the portrait of Emperor Maximilian I (1519), Georg Pencz in the portrait of Martin Luther (1533), Lucas Cranach and Hans Holbein, who used it in the portrait of Erasmus and several portraits of humanists and notables. This formal solution was also used in other artistic areas, notably by Agnolo Bronzino in Italy and Corneille de Lyon in France, where it became almost systematic in the 1540s. This portrait resonates most closely with the work of Christoph Amberger. Active in Augsburg, he played an important role in the production of portraits of the patriciate of this great merchant and financial metropolis. Today, he is considered one of the leading figures of the post-Dürer generation. Amberger worked for clients linked to the imperial entourage and the urban elite of the Holy Roman Empire. His training and career placed him at the crossroads of Germanic traditions and Italian and Venetian influences, particularly those of Holbein and Titian. His work reflects a synthesis of these contributions, in a pictorial language characterised by great sobriety of composition and a marked attention to the characterisation of models. A number of portraits of him share similar formal characteristics: the use of a panel with a plain green background, mid-body framing, the absence of any narrative device and an emphasis on the individual figure and costume, the representation of hands and textures, particularly fur. Comparable works include the Portrait of the Cosmographer Sebastian Münster (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie; see A. Kranz, Christoph Amberger, Bildnismaler zu Augsburg, Munich, 2004, no. 46, reproduced fig. 88) and the Portrait of Ulrich Sulzer (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; see opus cited above, no. 20, reproduced fig. 66), painted in a context of social recognition within the patriciate of Augsburg. From this point of view, the model could have belonged to the urban elite of the southern Holy Roman Empire, the patricians or the upper middle-class merchants, although it is not possible to specify its identity in greater detail. This type of patron, active in the great cities of the Rhineland and Swabia, was characterised by his or her involvement in the economic and cultural networks of the time, as well as by the great attention paid to self-representation. This anonymous portrait is representative of the practice of ceremonial portraiture in Northern Europe around 1540, part of a visual culture centred on the representation of the individual and his or her social status, within a formal framework marked by sobriety and concentration of the figure. The quality of the painted background, treated in flat tones and forming a marked chromatic contrast with the figure, helps to isolate the model and reinforce his or her presence in the pictorial space. The ensemble reflects the conventions of portraiture developed in the Holy Roman Empire during the 16th century, where the individualisation of the model is accompanied by a great economy of narrative means. We would like to thank Juliette Souperbie for her help in writing this notice. Expert: MILLET René, expert approved by the Paris Court of Appeal - Expert: MILLET René

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About the sale LARGE CATALOGUE SALE - Furniture, Works of Art

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Auction time 06/16/2026 at 2:00 PM

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20 - Attributed to Christoph AMBERGER (1500/10 - 1561/62) Half-bo… See original version (French)

20 - Attributed to Christoph AMBERGER (1500/10 - 1561/62) Half-bo…
See original version (French)