傳為漢斯·霍夫曼

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The quality and condition of this work are very good. The varnish is slightly thin, and if it were adjusted slightly, the work could be hung in its current state. The reverse of the panel has an old cradle. The panel is flat and stable. The original join runs vertically through Christ's shoulder on the left side. There is no abrasion or weakness to the paint layer. The darker colors are healthy, and the retouches to the vertical join and crack in the panel on the left side are well applied. There are otherwise barely any retouches at all.
"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."

From about 1570-1630, Europe witnessed a resurgence of interest in the Nuremberg artist, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1529). Later coined the “Dürer Renaissance,” this revival resulted in numerous copies after the artist’s works and imitations of his style. This phenomenon flourished among artists and collectors throughout Europe, but Nuremberg and Prague served as its artistic centers. Nuremberg housed many of Dürer’s works, and by 1583 Prague was home to the Imperial Court of Emperor Rudolf II, an ardent admirer of the artist. 

Hans Hoffmann, also a native of Nuremberg, was one of the most important masters of the “Dürer Renaissance.” He not only worked directly after Dürer’s paintings and drawings, but also created his own unique compositions from Dürer’s motifs. Hoffmann left Nuremberg in 1584 for Duke William V’s Court in Munich. In 1585, an invitation from Emperor Rudolf II led him to Prague, where he became the Imperial court painter, or Hofmaler.  During his salaried tenure, he was not only commissioned to create works in the style of Dürer, but also possibly advised the Emperor on his own Dürer collection.¹ As a leader of this artistic movement throughout his career, Hoffmann set a standard that influenced other Dürer followers active in Bavaria and Bohemia in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

Dating to circa 1580, this striking Ecce Homo is a powerful example of the type of works that arose during this period. Indeed, the delicate highlighting Christ’s beard recalls the manner in which Dürer painted his hair in his Self Portrait with Fur Trimmed Robe (1500) in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich (Inv. no. 537). The present work also bears notable similarities to The Mocking of Christ, an oil on oak panel from1600 in the National Gallery of Prague (inv. no. DP4185) (fig. 1). Although the attribution of the Prague panel remains under discussion, recent research has supported an attribution to Hoffmann.² Both paintings portray a crowded composition of Christ surrounded by a mass of attendants, soldiers, and lances, the latter of which recede deep into the background along the upper edge. In addition to the similar sensibility, handling, and coloring used by the artist in each panel, perhaps the most curious shared detail is the eye that peers through the crowd to the left of Christ’s head. Each work appears contemporaneous to Hans Hoffmann's lifetime, but scholars who have examined the present work either in person or from photographs agree that it is of finer quality than its related composition in Prague.  

We are grateful to Dr. Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann for his assistance in cataloguing this lot. 

1. See T.D. Kaufmann, The School of Prague, Painting at the Court of Rudolf II, Chicago 1988, p. 215.
2. ibid., p.216 and O. Kotková, German and Austrian Painting of the 14th-16th Centuries, The National Gallery of Prague, Prague 2007, p. 66.