Panel

Ostendorfer, Michael (ca. 1490-1559, Regensburg)

Germany, Regensburg

Portrait of Johann of Bayern, bishop of Regensburg 1533 Also attributed to Wertinger or a Bavarian artistic under the influence of Barthel Beham and Refinger. Other attribution: Peter Gertner (published in 1942) who worked with Beham in Nuremberg.

In medieval times, most paintings had a religious subject matter; artists painted mostly biblical scenes, episodes from the lives of saints and martyrs, portraits of members of the holy family. This meant that a limited range of people was painted innumerable times. As a result of this, certain fixed characteristics or attributes came to be associated with each of these persons, so that every beholder could identify all the men and women depicted, without the use of name cards or inscriptions. When the Renaissance, with its individualism, saw the rise of portrait painting, attributes or characteristics would no longer suffice. The wealthy burghers and noblemen who could afford to have their portraits painted usually did so only once. Thus there was no way that a tradition of fixed characteristics, outstanding features or attributes for every one of these individuals could develop. For the artists, the only sensible thing to do, in order to ensure that everybody could identify the people portrayed, was to insert inscriptions in portraits. These inscriptions served as name plates, as biographies, and sometimes as a homage. The man clothed in black and holding a carnation is, according to the small plate in the upper left corner of the panel, Johann, bishop of Regensburg, count palatine of the Rhine, duke of Bavaria, 44 years of age. Painted in 1533.’ The river flowing behind the duke may be the Rhine, and the castle on one of its banks may his property. Both the trees and Johann’s fur collar are executed with great precision and detail. The black hat is a typical example of sixteenth century headgear. The seams running vertically across the portrait reveal this work of art as a painting on panel.