Portrait of Wolfgang von Maen

Hans Burgkmair

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Hans Burgkmair. It is a portrait of a man turned and looking forward and to the left. He has long, curly hair and is wearing a hat. The man is wearing an open jacket with a fur-lined collar. His expression is serious and his brow slightly furrowed. An inscription to the right of the man reads 'M.D.XVIII.'. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No. 29 HANS BURGKMAIR (b. 1473; d. 1531) PORTRAIT OF WOLFGANG VON MAEN Collection of the Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth. Black chalk, the hair on both sides extended with the brush in brownish ink, the outline of the shoulder on the right retouched with the same; the date is drawn with Indian ink. The paper, without watermark, is stained to a brownish colour. 35.1 x 27.2 cm. (13 3/4 x 10 5/8 in.) For this drawing, formerly attributed to Dürer, the name of Schäufelein has more than once been suggested. It appears to me, however, to belong to the group of black chalk portraits by Burgkmair mentioned under No. 28 [Manchester City Art Gallery accession number: 1932.72.28]. The handling of the coat is especially characteristic of Burgkmair. It has been generally assumed, from the date, that the drawing was made during the Diet of Augsburg in 1518. Schäufelein, so far as we know, was then at Nördlingen. Burgkmair, of course, was at Augsburg in 1518; so was Dürer, who drew on this occasion his famous portrait of the Emperor Maximilian, and one of Burgkmair, now at Oxford. It is highly probable that Maximilian was attended at the Diet by his chaplain, Wolfgang van Maen, whose features have been recognized in the portrait before us by Prof. Ludwig Kaemmerer. I have not discovered any source for Maen's biography except his book, Das leiden Jesu Christi vnnsers erlösers, printed by Hans Schönsperger, jun., at Augsburg in 1515, and illustrated by Burgkmair, Schäufelein, and Breu. The author is here represented in two woodcuts [printed in the Vasari Society booklet]. In the first, by Burgkmair (Fig. 1), he kneels to present his book to the Emperor. In the last, by Breu (Fig.2), he kneels, identified by his coat-of-arms, at the feet of the Man of Sorrows. The head, in each case, is under half an inch in height, but both artists have been careful in drawing the features, as the resemblance between the two portraits proves, and in spite of the small scale a likeness to the present drawing is inmistakable. ... C. D."