(Nuremberg 1554–1630)
Portrait of a man, bust-length,
inscribed and indistinctly dated upper left: AE XXXXII…/… ANNO DNI/…5,
oil on canvas, 55 x 44 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Weinmüller, Munich, 3–5 December 1942, lot 1011, as Lorenz Strauch (consignor: Bürkel);
sale, Weinmüller, Munich, 15–17 December 1943, lot 642, as Lorenz Strauch (consignor: ‘Moser’);
Private collection, Southern Germany;
sale, Neumeister, Munich, 5 July 2017, lot 558;
where bought by the present owner

We are grateful to Rainer Stüwe for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a high-resolution photograph (certificate from August 2019 included).

Rainer Stüwe writes: ‘The work in question exhibits a number of characteristic features suggesting the authorship of the Nuremberg-based portraitist Lorenz Strauch. The most important criterion is the investigative and somewhat sceptical gaze cast at the spectator from the corners of the sitter’s eyes, which is entirely typical of Strauch. In terms of painting technique and motif, the slightly washy application of paint along the sitter’s hairline and the somewhat wing-shaped ears can frequently be observed in Strauch’s art […]. A date of execution in the years around 1585 and thus in the artist’s early period seems likely, due to the tight-fitting, narrow, and double-pleated collar, which is characteristic of Spanish court fashion during the period around 1580.’