Portrait of the Imperial Privy Councillor Anton Rummel von Lichtenau,
his coat of arms at upper left,
oil on canvas, 64 x 51.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection Knights of Vintler, Brunico/South Tyrol;
sale, C. J. Wawra, Vienna, 29 January 1919, lot 208 (as Tyrolean master, 16th century);
Private collection, Switzerland

The present painting seems to have been in the collection of the knights of Vintler, one of Tyrol’s oldest families, for a considerable length of time. There exists a copy by the Austrian painter Fanny Inama von Sternegg (1870–1928) from 1902 that was obviously made before the present original was relined. An inscription on the stretcher of the copy reads: “The original is in the Vintlers’ collection in Brunico.” Moreover, the copy is inscribed on the reverse: “Moroni ? pinx.”. Whether this inscription was copied from the original before it was lined can no longer be said with certainty. It is interesting that a portrait of Count Oswald Trapp I at Castel Coira in South Tyrol by the same artist has also been attributed to Moroni. The portrait of Anton Rummel von Lichtenau is by the hand of a portraitist active at the court of Innsbruck or Vienna, such as Paul Dax, Ottavio Zanuoli, or Michael Praun.

Anton Rummel von Lichtenau (1462–1538) had acquired wealth and recognition through his marriage into the noble Kripp family, who had made their fortune in the silver mining business, and with Martha von Spaur. He was a senior official in the service of the archbishop of Bressanone in Brunico and was appointed imperial privy councillor by Charles V. The city in the right background can possibly be identified as Brunneck in the Pustertal valley.