Art Institute of Chicago

Portrait of Fridrich Rorbach

Conrad Faber von Creuznach (German, c. 1500–by 1553)

Date

1532

Medium

Oil on panel

Culture

Germany

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This portrait would have served as a document of a marriage. Friedrich Rorbach’s name, age, and coat of arms, along with the date, are painted on the back of the panel, which was originally paired with a portrait of his wife, Katherina Knoblauchin, now in the National Gallery of Ireland. The two portraits share the same background— a fanciful mountain landscape. Conrad Faber, who worked in Frankfurt-am-Main, specialized in portraits depicting the patrician elite of that prosperous city. In the early 16th century, the energy and self-confidence of the many courts and free cities loosely united in the Holy Roman Empire brought about an artistic flowering in Germany.

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