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Bernhard Strigel

Hans Roth [obverse], 1527

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 35

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

overall (visible surface): 42.6 x 30 cm (16 3/4 x 11 13/16 in.)

framed: 49.6 x 37 cm (19 1/2 x 14 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Ralph and Mary Booth Collection

Accession Number

1947.6.4.a

Artists / Makers

Bernhard Strigel (artist) German, 1460/1461 - 1528

Image Use

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Inscription

across bottom on engaged frame: Gleich in gemeldtem iar ach ich, do liess ich Conterfeten mich (decorative element) 1527 (decorative element) / Und ward Octobris sechtzehn tag Alt sechsundzwaintzg iar wie ich sag (decorative element) (In the same year I too had myself portrayed. 1527. And it was the sixteenth day of October. I was twenty-six, as I say.); on ring of sitter's forefinger: (initials RH and the Roth family coat-of-arms: on dexter, a unicorn rampant; on sinister, two bars sable on argent)

Provenance

Probably Hans Roth [d. 14 March 1573] and Margarethe Vöhlin [d. 5 July 1582], Memmingen, Augsburg, and Ulm.[1] Manoli Mandelbaum, Berlin; (Julius Böhler, Munich), in January 1922; (Paul Cassirer, Berlin); purchased March 1922 by Ralph Harman [1873-1931] and Mary Batterman [d. 1951] Booth, Grosse Pointe, Michigan;[2] gift 1947 to NGA.

[1] Anton H. Konrad, letter of 5 November 1988 to John Hand, in NGA curatorial files, suggested that the pictures remained in the possession of the Roth family in the Schloss at Reutti (now New-Ulm) until 1890 when bankruptcy forced the dispersal of the collection. Since the Schloss archive is not extant, this proposal remains unverified.

[2] Provenance corroborated by letter of 9 November 1987 from Julius Böhler to John Hand, in NGA curatorial files. See also Böhler inventory card no. 22-149, Getty Research Institute (copy NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Booth, Ralph Harman and Mary Batterman
Booth, Ralph Harman, Mrs.
Böhler, Julius
Galerie Paul Cassirer
Mandelbaum, Manoli
Roth, Hans and Margarethe

Exhibition History

1923: Ralph H. Booth Loan Collection, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1923, no cat.

1926: The Third Loan Exhibition of Old Masters. The Detroit Institiute of Arts, (Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition from Detroit Private Collections.), 1926, no. 19.

1927: The Fifth Loan Exhibition of Old and Modern Masters, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1927, no. 26.

1933: A Century of Progress, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933, no. 32a.

1939: Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 363.

2011: Dürer-Cranach-Holbein. Die Entdeckung des Menschen: Das deutsche Porträt um 1500, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, 2011-2012, no. 168, repro. (shown only in Munich).

Technical Summary

The examination was conducted without disengaging the panel from the frame. The support is a single piece of wood with vertically oriented grain. The frame is made of poplar wood.[1] The white ground terminates in a barbe along all four edges of the panel. Along the left, right, and bottom sides wooden strips are nailed to the outer edge of the frame. Examination with infrared reflectography revealed fine outlines of the sitter's eyes and nose, but it was not clear whether this was underdrawing or part of the paint layer. Also visible in the sitter's hand is the blocked-in shape of an early design stage. There is a vertical check at the left edge of the panel. Retouching is scattered throughout the panel but is concentrated in the sitter's face. The right corner has been cleaned more thoroughly than the rest of the panel.

[1] The wood was identified by the National Gallery's scientific research department.

Bibliography

1923: Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Ralph H. Booth Loan Collection." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 4 (1923): 51-52, repro. 54.

1924: Poland, Reginald. "Art in Detroit Homes." Art and Archaeology 17 (1924): 111, repro.

1925: Parker, Karl Theodor and Walter Hugelshofer. "Bernhardin Strigel als Zeichner." Belvedere 8 (1925): 33, n. 4, fig. 5.

1926: Götz, O., Georg Swarzenski, and A. Wolters. Ausstellung von Meisterwerken alter Malerei aus Privatbesitz. Exh. cat. Staedelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, 1926: 70, under no. 201.

1929: Mayer, August L. "Bernhard Strigel als Porträtmaler." Pantheon 3 (1929): 1, repro.

1933: "A Century of Progress Exhibit List." Art News 31 (27 May 1933): 4.

1934: Hugelshofer, Walter. "Ein signiertes Bildnis von Bernhard Strigel." Pantheon 14 (1934): 306.

1934: Stange, Alfred. Deutsche Malerei der Gotik. 11 vols. Berlin and Munich, 1934-1961. Munich, 1957: 8:150.

1936: Kuhn, Charles L. A Catalogue of German Paintings of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in American Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1936: 63, no. 258, pl. 52.

1948: Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Booth: hand-picking the Renaissance." Art News 47 (March 1948): 37, repro.

1948: Recent Additions to the Ralph and Mary Booth Collection. Washington, 1948: unpaginated, repro.

1949: "Ralph and Mary Booth Bequest in der National Gallery of Art, Washington." Phoebus 2, no. 2 (1949): 71, repro.

1950: "Old Masters in America: Important Gifts to the National Gallery, Washington" The Illustrated London News (September 16, 1950): 449, repro.

1959: Rettich, Edeltraud. "Bernhard Strigel, Ergänzungen und Berichtigungen zu: Alfred Stange 'Deutsche Malerei der Gotik, VIII. Band, Schwaben'." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 22 (1959): 167.

1963: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 305, repro.

1964: Otto, Gertrud. Bernhard Strigel. Munich and Berlin, 1964: 81, 106-107, no. 87, repro. 78-79 (color), figs. 154-155.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 125.

1967: Stange, Alfred. Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer. 3 vols. Munich, 1970: 2:221, no. 966.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 112, repro.

1973: Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 126.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 332, repro. 333.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 155, nos. 168-171, repro. 154.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 155, no. 164, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 382, repro.

1990: Dülberg, Angelica. Privatporträts--Geschichte und Ikonologie einer Gattung im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Berlin, 1990: 23, 127, 208-209, nos. 114-115, figs. 467-470.

1993: Hand, John Oliver, with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1993: 167-173, color repro. 169 (repro. of reverse 171).

1995: Löcher, Kurt. Review of German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries, by John Oliver Hand with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. Kunstchronik 43 no. 1 (January 1995): 19.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 139, no. 107, color repro.

2004: Kranz, Annette. Christoph Amberger, Bildnismaler zu Augsburg. Regensburg, 2004: 391, repro.