GEORG PENCZ
133 Study for a Stained-Glass
Window with the Coat of
Arms of the Barons von Paar*
Study for a Scepter with the
Initials MB
vPen and brown ink and gray wash (recto); black chalk
(verso); Diarn: 24.7 cm (9IJ/i6 in.)
83.GA.i9 3MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at bottom right
corner of board hanging from tree, faintly signed GP
in black chalk; on board, inscribed STEMM AT A.
VI / RTUTI. ET. MUN / IFICENTIE. AD /
AVCTA. HEROVfM] PROPRIA in black
ink; on circular border, inscribed INSIGNIA.
MARCL BARONIS. GENTILIVfM]. Q[VE].
S UOR[UM]. A. PAR.; (verso) unidentified collection
mark of B. S. (L. Suppl. 4i4b).
PROVENANCE: B. S. collection; G. Schwarting, Del-
menhorst; art market, London.
EXHIBITIONS: Meister urn Albrecht Durer, Germanisches
Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, July-September 1961,
no. 265 (catalogue by P. Streider et al.). Zeichnungen alter
Meister aus deutschem Privatbesitz, Kunsthalle Bremen,
February-April 1966, no. 66 (catalogue by W. Stubbe).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. White et al., Recent Acquisitions and
Promised Gifts, Sculpture, Drawings, Prints, exh. cat., Na-
tional Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1974, p. 42, un-
der no. 7.
THE ARMS DEPICTED IN THIS DRAWING FOR A STAINED-
glass window are identified by the surrounding inscrip-
tion as those of Marcus Belidorus de Casnio (alive 1170),
an ancestor of the von Paar family, who originated in
Bergamo (Streider et al. 1961, p. 159). The base of the
crossed scepter held by the crowned bull atop the es-
cutcheon carries his initials, MB. The interior inscrip-
tion, hanging from the tree, suggests the continuation of
the glory of his descendents, stating: "The family trees
of heroes grow greater through virtue and munificence."
The sentiment expressed in this motto is a humanist one,
as are the style of the lettering and the form of the plaque.
The classicizing female figure holding the shield may re-
flect the influence of Giulio Romano, whose work Pencz
might have seen on a trip to northern Italy around 1529,
and also recalls the prints of Marcantonio Raimondi.
The sheet also has been compared stylistically with a
copy by Pencz after Michelangelo's Flood (Washington,
D.C., National Gallery of Art, inv. B-26, 781; White et
al. 1974, no. 7). The style of the Museum's drawing
seems more developed and is more subtle in the use of
wash than the copy after Michelangelo, and the figure
looks ahead to Pencz's painting of a sleeping nude of 1544
(Pasadena, Norton Simon Museum). The integration of
figure with landscape has been sensitively accomplished,
and the latter has a distinctly Northern flavor in its open-
ness and specificity. These factors would appear to argue
tentatively for a date of around 1540 for the drawing.298 GERMAN SCHOOL • PENCZ