South Netherlandish School circa 1527

J.J. Merlo, Cologne (according to an old label on the reverse).

E. Firmenich-Richartz, Bartholomäus Bruyn und seine Schule, Leipzig 1891, p. 70;
Barthel Bruyn, Gesamtverzeichnis seiner Bildnisse und Altarwerke, Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, 1955, p. 26, no. 49;
H. Westhoff-Krummacher, Barthel Bruyn der Ältere, Munich 1965, p. 101, no. 6, reproduced (as by Bartholomäus Bruyn the elder).

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The oak panel is in a good flat condition with a stable central vertical join. The paint layer is raised and cupped all over with some fragility. There is excessive discoloured pale restoration visible in the sky and on the face. Some of the raised paint layer has been abraded revealing islands of pale ground which have been reduced along with areas of dense dark shrinkage cracking. There is further restoration to be seen in the fur collar, the coat and to the thin paint of the letter. Essentially, though, in a good preserved condition with some of the finer details intact. The removal of the discoloured varnish would improve the tonality. Offered in a modern black a gold glazed frame in good condition."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Although published by Westhoff-Krummacher as by Barthel Bruyn the Elder in her seminal work on the artist from 1955, she only knew the painting from a photograph. On the basis of photographs, Dr. Kurt Löcher does not accept Bruyn's authorship of this work and sees it, in fact, as more likely to be a product of the Netherlandish school. The cap worn by the sitter was more fashionable in the Low Countries than in Germany; another such is worn in a Portrait of a man by Quentin Metsys in Frankfurt, Städelsches Kunstinstitut (for which see M.J. Friedlander, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. VII, Leiden/Brussels 1971, p. 65, no. 46, reproduced plate 47).

According to Westhoff-Krummacher (see Literature) Martin Imhoff was the son of the silk merchant Martin Imhoff and his wife Frau Katherina von Starkenburg. In 1494 there is record of a metal merchant called Martin Imhoff in London.