1017 - Hans Mielich

Hans Mielich Portrait of Anna Tucher von Schowerau, née Kleebühler Oil on panel, mounted on panel. 85 x 66.5 cm. Inscribed monogrammed and dated upper left: DO MAN 1551 ZALT.DO HET / ICH DISE GESTALT.VND WART. / XXXI.IAR ALT. HM (ligated). Provenance Collection of Baron S. H., Rome. - Collection of Mariano Rocchi (1855–1943), Rome, until around 1910 (as Hans Holbein). - Private collection, Frankfurt a.M., 1925. - Kunsthandlung Hugo Perls, Berlin, 1928. - Julius H. Weitzner, New York/London. - Collection of Sigrid Bishop, Paddington, London, September 1948 (according to label on the reverse). - German private collection. - On loan to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (inv.-no. Gm1599), 1957-1959. - German private collection. Exhibitions Ausstellung altdeutscher und altniederländischer Gemälde, Kunsthandlung Hugo Perls, Berlin, 1928, no. 29. Literature M. Rocchi: Collection of objects of art and antiquities of Chev. Rome 1910, pp. 11f., no. 87 (as Hans Holbein). - B. Röttger: Der Maler Hans Mielich, Munich 1925, pp. 71f., no. 17, ill. p. 73. - Exh. cat. Berlin 1928: Ausstellung altdeutscher und altniederländischer Gemälde, ed. Kunsthandlung Hugo Perls, Berlin 1928, p. 25, no. 29. - P. Strieder: Hans Mielich, in: H. Kindler (ed.): Kindlers Malerei-Lexikon, vo. 4, Zurich 1967, pp. 524 f., ill. - R. Hoidn: Studien zu Hans Mielich als Bildnismaler, Berlin 1994, pp. 56–59, no. 23. - K. Löcher: Hans Mielich 1516–1573. Bildnismaler in München, Kunstwissenschaftliche Studien, vol. 100, Munich/Berlin 2002, pp. 61f., 221, no. 25, p. 147, ill. 35. - C. Silvestrini: Mariano Rocchi Antiquario. Il commercio d'arte sull'asse Perugia-Roma tra Ottocento e Novecento, Città di Castello 2008, p. 179, ill. 30, p. 250, no. 86 (as Hans Holbein). - G. Dagit, Hans Mielich und die gefräßige Zeit. Vergessene Bilder der Münchener Spätrenaissance, Munich 2022, p. 28, no. 52, p. 211, ill. - For the sitter: R. Hoidn: Studien zu Hans Mielich als Bildnismaler. Magisterarbeit FU Berlin 1994 (typescript.), pp. 56-59, no. 23. - W. Reinhard (ed.): Augsburger Eliten des 16. Jahrhunderts. Prosopographie wirtschaftlicher und politischer Führungsgruppen 1500 - 1620, Berlin 1996, p. 841. - For the coat of arms: E. Zimmermann: Augsburger Zeichen und Wappen, Augsburg 1970, no. 6167. The portrait of the 31-year-old Anna Kleebühler, painted in 1551, was probably created in the context of the Imperial Diet of Augsburg. Originally, it formed a matching portrait pair with the portrait of her husband, Hans Tucher (Ill. 1). Tucher’s pendant portrait was auctioned at Lempertz in Cologne in 1962 and is now held by the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (inv. no. Gm 1624). Anna Kleebühler (also known as Klebiller or Klebihler), the daughter of Georg Kleebühler, came from a prominent family of jewellers who had emigrated from Innsbruck. Mielich presents her as a half-length figure against a brown-toned background, dressed in a black garment made of damask-like fabric with a subtle floral pattern. With a calm gaze, she appears to be looking into the distance. Her finely modelled hands, placed one over the other, hold a pair of light-coloured leather gloves. Two gold rings on her right hand, a signet ring set with a reddish-orange carnelian on the index finger of her left hand, and an elaborately decorated chatelaine at her waist all allude to the sitter’s affluent social milieu. At the same time, these accessories bear a remarkable connection to her family background. For comparative illustrations, see the printed catalogue as well as the PDF version.