SWISS (BERNESE?) MASTER
SIXTEENTH CENTURY
142 Portrait of a Young Man
Black chalk; H: 38.2 cm (15 in.); W: 28.7 cm (ii^5 /i6 in.)
87.06.3 0
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS! At top, dated .1.5.21 in
black chalk by the artist; inscribed AD (false Durer
monogram) in black chalk by a later hand.
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Canada (since before
World War II); private collection, Montreal (sale, Chris-
tie's, London, December 12, 1985, lot 382); art market,
London.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.
THIS LARGE, HIGHLY FINISHED DRAWING FIRST AP-
peared in a 1985 Christie s sale catalogue, where it is cor-
rectly identified as Swiss based on its Bern watermark^1
and its similarity, as pointed out by J. Byam Shaw, to the
portrait of Jakob von Roverea monogrammed HF and
dated 1523 (Bern, Kunstmuseum inv. 623). Like the
painting but even more strongly, the present drawing
shows the influence of Ambrosius Holbein and Hans
Holbein the Younger. The placement of the hat, treat-
ment of the hair, free rendering of the clothing, and bust-
length pose find parallels in Portrait of a Young Man in an
Orange Hat, attributed to Holbein the Younger (National
Gallery of Art inv. Ki892), which is considered to have
been painted circa 1520. The steady horizontal gaze of the
young man in the drawing also calls to mind the Portrait
ofBonifadus Amerbach of 1519 (Offentliche Kunstsamm-
lung inv. 314). Comparable Swiss drawings of this pe-
riod include Portrait of a Young Man (Staatliche Gra-
phische Sammlung inv. 71), a large-scale black chalk
study similarly showing the sitter in profile that was
probably made by a Bernese artist circa 1525. Contrary
to Holbein, however, is the flat treatment of the form
in the manner of Niklaus Manuel. The meandering,
stringy quality of the line in the chin strap and waistcoat,
which calls to mind the line work of Manuel and Urs
Graf, is combined with fine hatching and stumping
through the face and hat, elements suggesting that this
artist knew Durer s large portrait drawings in charcoal
such as Smiling Young Man Facing Right of 1521 (British
Museum, Sloane Collection, inv. 5218/54). Like Durer s
portrait charcoals, the present example seems to have
been intended as a finished work of art.i. J. Lindt, The Paper-Mills of Berne and Their Watermarks:
1465-1859 (Hilversum, 1964), close to no. 18.3l 6 CENTRAL EUROPEAN SCHOOL • SWISS MASTER