233 - MICHAEL TRIEGEL

MICHAEL TRIEGEL (born in 1968 in Erfurt, based in Leipzig) Pontormo, 2001 Acrylic and oil on hardboard. 25.5 x 17.5 cm. Framed in a historic black-lacquered decorative frame with a gold visible molding, which is set into a black box frame. Monogrammed lower right. Inscribed on the reverse. Catalog No.: G 160 Provenance: Private collection, Saxony Born in Erfurt in 1968, Triegel began his studies in 1990 at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig. He studied painting under Arno Rink and subsequently completed a master’s program under Ulrich Hachulla. Alongside Neo Rauch, Michael Triegel is one of the best-known representatives of the New Leipzig School. In addition to numerous works in public museums and collections, he received a number of important commissions. For example, in 2010 he painted a portrait of Pope Benedict XVI. In addition to portraits, he created a whole series of altars for the Protestant and Catholic churches. In the self-portrait that Michael Triegel created at the age of 33, he references a red chalk drawing by Jacopo da Pontormo (1494, Pontormo – 1557, Florence), one of the most significant Florentine painters of the Mannerist period. This drawing is considered a preparatory sketch for the figure that, in the altarpiece of the Capponi Chapel in the Florentine church of Santa Felicita, stands out from the crowd on the right edge of the painting —according to tradition, a self-portrait of Pontormo, depicting him as a silent, sorrowful witness to the Descent from the Cross. Triegel adopts from this model the rotation of the upper body, the slight tilt of the head, and above all that searching, sorrowful gaze with which the Pontormo figure in the finished altarpiece breaks through the picture plane and addresses the viewer directly —not in devout devotion to an altar, but as a witnessing presence that links the depicted event with the reality of the viewer standing before the painting. While Triegel still clearly follows his model’s example in the headdress, he freely interprets the figure’s clothing: The Mannerist’s flowing, heavily draped cloth becomes, in Triegel’s version, a simple dark jacket, beneath which a white undershirt and a bright red garment reminiscent of a hooded jacket stand out. This unassuming, distinctly contemporary detail deliberately disrupts the otherwise harmonious adaptation to the Mannerist visual language and makes the subject’s presence palpable. Triegel deliberately omits a background: nothing should distract the viewer from this extraordinarily open, deeply introspective, and at the same time captivating gaze.