Live Auction 3747Old Master Paintings
Studio of Bartholomäus Bruyn I (Wesel or Cologne 1493-1555 Cologne)
Lot 8 PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF JACQUES GOUDSTIKKER

Studio of Bartholomäus Bruyn I (Wesel or Cologne 1493-1555 Cologne)

Portrait of Chancellor Balthasar von Kerpen; and Portrait of a lady, his wife

Closed3 June 2015

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USD 10,625

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Studio of Bartholomäus Bruyn I (Wesel or Cologne 1493-1555 Cologne)
Portrait of Chancellor Balthasar von Kerpen; and Portrait of a lady, his wife
oil on panel, shaped top
each 18 1/8 x 13 ½ inches (46.5 x 34.5 cm.)
(2)a pair

Collection Regia, Pinacoteca di Torino, Turin, 1874 (the second only).
Sir Richard Clayton.
Mrs. M.E. Harman; Christie's, London, 25 July 1930, lot 165, as Joos Cleve (1,050 gns. to C. Duits).
with W.E. Duits, London.
with Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam, 1930, inv. nos. 2618 and 2619, half owned by W.E. Duits.
Looted by the Nazi authorities, July 1940.
Recovered by the Allies, 1945.
In the custody of the Dutch Government.
Restituted to the heir of Jacques Goudstikker, February 2006.

Specialist note

Balthasar von Kerpen (b. 1480/85) was a successful merchant from Cologne. The present portrait is based on a larger panel of 1538 now in the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland, in which Balthasar is portrayed in the same pose, holding a glove. The St. Gallen portrait is paired with a portrait of Balthasar’s first wife, Margarethe (d. 1538). The woman in the present portrait is likely Balthasar’s second wife, whom he married in 1542. She wears a white headdress and gold-embroidered bodice, signs of her elevated social status, and holds a flower, a symbol of her love.