Portrait of Alexander Mornauer

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Notes

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This painting reflects the simple and direct manner of German portraiture of the late fifteenth century. It was once thought to be a portrait by Holbein of the German religious reformer Martin Luther, but the sitter is in fact Alexander Mornauer, town clerk of Landshut in Bavaria; the letter he holds is addressed to himself.

Cleaning also revealed the wood-grain background, which had been overpainted with a layer of Prussian blue, a pigment that only became available to artists in the early eighteenth century. The colour was similar to one often used by Hans Holbein the Younger, the most accomplished of sixteenth-century portraitists. Whoever made this change may have wished to pass the portrait off as a work by Holbein, which would have had more value than a painting by an unknown German artist.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Portrait of Alexander Mornauer

Date

about 1464-88

Medium

Oil on wood

Measurements

H 45.2 x W 38.7 cm

Accession number

NG6532

Acquisition method

Bought, 1990

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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