Portrait of a Woman

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Portrait of a Woman

Artist Hans Müelich (German, 1516-1573)

Place of OriginGermany

Date1540

DimensionsH: 29 1/2 in. (74.9 cm); W: 25 5/8 in. (65.1 cm)

MediumOil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1955.227

Not on View

Label TextThis unknown woman was the wife of a prosperous German townsperson—perhaps a merchant or a Church official (see her husband’s portrait to the left). Though her dress is simple and an unassuming black, it is luxurious satin trimmed with velvet. She wears a jeweled or enameled belt, four rings, and a gold heart-shaped pendant, displaying her wealth. The large size of the pair of portraits and the prestige of their artist Hans Muelich, the leading painter in Munich at the time, clearly convey that the couple wanted to be remembered as successful and important. The landscape through the window shows a country vista at sunset, rather than the sunny town scene in her husband’s portrait. The farmstead and ruined castle may have had some special significance to the woman or her family. Look for Muelich’s monogram and the date on the windowsills of each painting.Published ReferencesPictures on Exhibit, vol. 22, no. 5, Feb. 1959, p. 35, repr.

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, January-March, 1960," The Art Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 2, Summer 1960, repr. p. 187.

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr.

Löcher, K., "Studien zur oberdeutschen Bildnis-Malerei des 16. Jahrhunderts," Jahrbuch der Staatlichen Kunstammlungen in Baden-Württemberg, IV, 1967, pp. 72-74, 84, nn. 155-156, figs. 48, 49.

"Painting in Northern Europe 1450-1550," Toledo Musuem of Art Museum News, vol. 13, no. 2, Summer 1970, pp. 42, 43, repr. p. 43.

Riefstahl, Rudolf M., "European Jeweled Arts," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 13, no. 3, Autumn 1970, p. 54, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 115-116, pl. 69.

Hand John Oliver, German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries, Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1993, pp. 149, 150, fig. 4.

Löcher, Kurt, Hans Mielich (1516-1573): Bildnismaler in München, München, Deutscher, Kunstverlag, 2002, pp. 41-43, 209, Abb. 9 (col.) p. 121, Abb. 11 (det.) p. 123.