(Munich 1575–1634 Augsburg)
Madonna and Child and an Angel with the Holy Rood,
oil on copper, 20.3 x 14.8 cm, in an opulent, elaborately embellished Mannerist frame c. 1600

We are grateful to Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann for confirming the painting as a work of Kager’s on the basis of a photograph (correspondence with the consigner). He compares it with an altarpiece with the Virgin in Glory in Forstenried near Munich.

From 1588 onwards Kager completed his apprenticeship under Jacob Jelle and then under the miniature painter Jörg Karl in Munich. He likewise studied in Munich with Friedrich Sustris. Following a study trip through Italy, he worked in the service of the Bavarian court, both within the residence and for the decoration of the Jesuit Church of Saint Michael in Munich. He soon became the court painter of Duke Maximilian I. In 1603 Kager moved to the Imperial City of Augsburg, where he quickly received numerous public and private commissions. From 1605 to 1607 he executed the external frescoes of the Weberhaus (weavers’ guild house) at Moritzplatz. As of 1620, he was the general manager of the decoration of the Ausgsburg town hall. He designed the (now destroyed) decorations for the Golden Hall and provided pictures for one of the Princes’ Rooms and the Council Chamber.