German School, circa 1580

Art market, Paris;

Where acquired by Paul Pavlovich Demidoff (1839-1885), 2nd Prince of San Donato, Villa Demidoff, Pratolino, 1882;

Probably thence by inheritance to his wife, Princess Elena Demidoff (1853-1917), until circa 1890;

Stanley Mortimer (1854-1932), New York;

Thence by inheritance to his wife, Elizabeth Livingston Hall (1863-1944), New York;

By whose executors sold ("Property from the Estate of the Late Stanley Mortimer, New York"), New York, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 2 December 1944, lot 51 (as Christoph Amberger);

Where acquired by André Tressley (1949–1963), New York;

By whose estate anonymously sold, New York, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 22-23 November 1963, lot 69 (as Christoph Amberger);

Where acquired by Henry H. Weldon, New York;

With Kunsthandel Xaver Scheidwimmer OHG, Munich;

From whom acquired by John and Johanna Bass, New York, 1966;

By whom bequeathed to the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, in 1979 (inv. no. 1979.185).

Courrier de l'Art 36 (September 1882), p. 424;

L'Art: revue hebdomadaire illustrée, vol. 2 (January 1883), p. 60 (reproduction of the engraving by Louis Lucas, titled Portrait d'un Gentilhomme Allemand, Galérie de M. le prince Demidoff de San Donato à son chateau de Pratolino);

K. Langenheim, "Erzbischof Heinrich III., Herzog von Sachsen-Lauenburg," in Lauenburgische Heimat 58 (September 1967), pp. 16-19, reproduced;

The John and Johanna Bass Collection at Miami Beach, Miami 1973, cat. no. 185 (as Christoph Amberger);

M.A. Russell, in Paintings and Textiles of the Bass Museum of Art: Selections from the Collection, M.A.Russell (ed.), Miami Beach 1990, pp. 34-35, reproduced (as German School, last quarter of the 16th century).

This distinguished German Renaissance portrait of Heinrich von Sachsen-Lauenberg (1550-1585) was painted circa 1580, by which time his titles included Prince-Archbishop of Bremen (1567), Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück (1574), and Prince-Bishop of Paderborn (1577). 

As the third son of Francis I (1543-1581), Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, Heinrich was sent to a monastery in Cologne at age fourteen and destined to hold a clerical position of power. Not only was the Prince-Archbishop a Lutheran, he was also married; he secretly wed Anna von Broich, the daughter of Cologne’s Burgomaster, in 1575.

In 1963, Kurt Langheim decoded the elaborate coat of arms emblazoned at upper right, and in doing so revealed the previously unknown identity of the sitter, Heinrich von Sachsen-Lauenberg.¹ The upper and lower thirds of the shield (each comprising three sections of gold stripes, three red crescents, and a golden eagle) derive from the Dukes of Lauenburg crest; the middle third sections (depicting a red wheel, crossed keys, and a red cross) symbolize the bishopric of Osnabruck, the archbishopric of Bremen, and the bishopric of Paderborn respectively. Above the crest, an array of emblems–three helmets, two crowns, an Elector’s hat, sword, and crosier–signify the Duke’s noble heritage and various ecclesiastical honors.

¹ Lanheim’s 1967 article (see Literature) provides a detailed analysis of the various elements of the coat of arms.