Portrait of an Arbitrator or Mathematician
1529 | Barthel Beham
The table placed at the same location in this picture and its companion piece (Inv. No. GG 3483) underscores the fact that the two pictures belong together. In an innovative artistic device new to German portraiture, the subject is framed within a more generous space. The wine glass, grapes and parrot have been added as though to a still life, while the fixed stare of the man writing figures in chalk on the table indicates the internal process of computation.
The table placed at the same location in this picture and its companion piece (Inv. No. GG 3483) underscores the fact that the two pictures belong together. In an innovative artistic device new to German portraiture, the subject is framed within a more generous space. The wine glass, grapes and parrot have been added as though to a still life, while the fixed stare of the man writing figures in chalk on the table indicates the internal process of computation.
Artist:
Barthel Beham (1502 Nürnberg - 1540 Bologna) DNB
Time:
1529
Object Name
Painting
Culture
German
Material/technology:
Limewood
Dimensions:
Overall: 84,8 cm × 66,1 cm × 2,2 cm
Framed: 104,5 cm × 86 cm × 6,5 cm
Signed
on the table with chalk pencil dated 1529
Inscribed
auf dem Siegelring Wappen und Initialen HS
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie
Invs.
Gemäldegalerie, 783
Provenance
1783 documented in the gallery