(circa 1505–1561/62 Augsburg)
Portrait of Martin Weiß II,
inscribed and dated upper right: MDXXXXIIII/MARTIN WEISS/AETATIS SUAE XLIIII,
oil on panel, 65 x 53 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614–1662), Vienna (inventory of 1659, no. 542);
Oesterreichische Galerie, Vienna (inv. no. 50, according to Christian von Mechel 1783);
1888 transferred to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. no. 869, deaccessioned 3 March 1927);
Collection of Heinrich Neuerburg (1883–1956), Cologne;
thence by inheritance to the present owner – private collection, South Germany

Literature:
Verzeichniß der Gemaelde der Kaiserlich Koeniglichen Bilder Gallerie in Wien verfaßt von Christian Mechel […] nach der von ihm auf Allerhoechsten Befehl im Jahre 1781 gemachten neuen Einrichtung, Vienna MDCCLXXXIII, p. 248, no. 50;
A. Krafft, Verzeichnis der Kais. Kön. Gemälde-Gallerie im Belvedere zu Wien, Vienna 1837, pp. 204-05, no. 49;
G. Parthey, Deutscher Bildersaal. Verzeichnis der in Deutschland vorhandenen Oelbilder verstorbener Maler aller Schulen, vol. I, Berlin 1863, p. 26, no. 26;
G. F. Waagen, Die vornehmsten Kunstdenkmäler in Wien, Part 1: Die K.K. Gemälde-Sammlungen im Schloss Belvedere und in der K. K. Kunst-Akademie, die Privat-Sammlungen, Vienna 1866, p. 167, no. 49;
W. Engelmann, Amberger, Christoph, Die Werke des Meisters, in: Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon, ed. by Julius Meyer, 2nd completely revised edition of Nagler’s Künstler-Lexikon (discontinued after two vols., Leipzig 1870–1874), vol. I, 9th instalment 1871, pp. 602/3, no. 12;
A. Woltmann, Holbein und seine Zeit, Leipzig 1874, p. 191;
L. Scheibler, Ueber altdeutsche Gemälde in der Kaiserlichen Galerie zu Wien, in: Repertorium X, 1887, p. 292;
W. Schmidt, Ueber Chr. Amberger, in: Repertorium XIV, 1891, pp. 435-36;
E. Haasler, Der Maler Christoff Amberger von Augsburg (phil. diss. 1893), Königsberg 1894, pp. 89-90, p. 129, no. 28 and p. 139;
Führer durch die Gemälde-Galerie, Alte Meister, II: Niederländische und deutsche Schulen, Vienna 1896, p. 219, no. 1410;
Kunsthistorische Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, Die Gemäldegalerie, Alte Meister, Vienna 1907, p. 320, n. 410;
G. von Bezold, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Bildnisses, in: Mitteilungen aus dem Germanischen Nationalmuseum Nürnberg, 1920/21, p. 47;
E. Auerbach, Die deutsche Bildnismalerei im 16. Jahrhundert in Franken, Schwaben und Bayern (phil. diss.), Frankfurt/Main 1925, p. 24;
Das Bildnis in der deutschen Renaissance, exhibition catalogue, Galerie Fleischmann, Munich 1931, no. 3, p. 9, ill. p. 32;
L. Baldass, Studien zur Augsburger Porträtmalerei des 16. Jahrhunderts, III. Christoph Amberger als Bildnismaler, in: Pantheon IX, 1932, pp. 178 and 182;
K. Garas, Das Schicksal der Sammlung des Erzherzogs Leopold Wilhelm, in: JKS 64, N. F. XXVIII, 1968, p. 257, no. 142;
K. Löcher, Amberger, Christoph, in: Künstler-Lexikon, vol. III, p. 123;
A. Kranz, Christoph Amberger, Bildnismaler zu Augsburg, Regensburg 2004, pp. 360-63, cat. no. 45

Annette Kranz writes about the sitter: ‘According to the inscription, Martin Weiß the Younger was born in 1501; the year of his death remains uncertain. In June 1514 the young Martin Weiß enrolled at the University of Ingolstadt. His descent is somewhat obscure. Martin Weiß was born son to Moritz Meixner, who worked as a furrier in Augsburg. Meixner, while still alive, obviously agreed to the adoption of his “son” by the Augsburg-based wholesaler Martin Weiß the Elder (died in 1525), whose marriage to Elisabeth Fackler had remained childless. These unusual circumstances suggest that Meixner was in fact not his biological father. The child probably sprang from a prenuptial relationship of his mother, with various hints implying that Martin Weiß the Elder himself was his real father. For not only did he leave his substantial fortune to his adoptive son, but also, by offering an exorbitant dowry, succeeded in arranging the marriage of the young Martin Weiß to Barbara Vetter (died in 1568/69), the daughter of the highly recognised patrician mayor Georg Vetter and Apollonia Welser. Additionally, legitimated through the marriage to a patrician woman, he would now formally be granted access to the exclusive Augsburg gentlemen’s club. Yet it seems that because of his descent his fellow members refused to admit him at first, for until 1528/29 he would remain a member of the merchants’ society before switching to the gentlemen’s club […]. In Augsburg, the political career of the future merchant, who also did not push to the fore with his business activities, was to remain a modest one. It appears that his paternal inheritance permitted him to live on his own fortune. However, one is struck by his reformative commitment: Weiß felt drawn to Protestantism early on and was one of few Augsburg citizens exchanging letters with Martin Luther.’

In its lengthy history, this portrait of Martin Weiß has always been regarded as an original by the hand of the great portraitist Christoph Amberger. Having been listed as a work by Amberger in the 1659 inventory of the archducal collections as early as 1659, the painting was also mentioned by Mechel in his Vienna catalogue from 1783 as a work by the Augsburg-based painter, yet without quoting the inscription. Auerbach and Baldass emphasised that this picture makes reference to Amberger’s portraits of the 1530s. Kranz again: ‘While the gloves as an elegant attribute ennoble the sitter, the skull on the chain can be interpreted as a memento mori symbol. The allusive mise-en-scène suggests that the ornament had been deliberately chosen by the client. The serious, penetrating gaze meeting that of the viewer seems to enhance the warning that all life is transient.’