Andreas Riehl the Younger

Leon de Zoubalo[?], Moscow (according to a label on the reverse);

The Royal House of Hanover, Germany;

Their sale, Schloss Marienburg, Sotheby's, 5 October 2005, lot 14, for €18,150 (as part of a pair) (as The Monogrammist A*** R***).

George Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach was Margrave of Ansbach and Bayreuth, as well as Regent of Prussia. He reigned in his native Ansbach, Franconia, Jägerndorf, and Upper Silesia from 1556. After the death of his cousin Albert Alcibiades in 1557, he also ruled over Kulmbach. He later took over the administration of the Duchy of Prussia in 1577, when the then-reigning Duke Albert Frederick (1553–1618) became ill.

Among other accomplishments, including founding several schools and a university, George Frederick rebuilt the palace and fortress of Plassenburg, which had been destroyed in the Second Margrave War (1552–1554). It became one of the most impressive residences in Renaissance Germany. He also built the fortress of Wülzburg and the old palace in Bayreuth.

George Frederick was the last of the old Franconia line of the House of Hohenzollern. Upon his death, Ansbach and Kulmbach were inherited by younger princes of the Brandenburg line, according to the House Treaty of Gera of 1598.

Another painting of George Frederick by Andreas Riehl the Younger, which is largely comparable in its composition (aside from the colour of his doublet), is in the National Museum, Wrocław.