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artist or maker

German School

Date

c 1510-1520

dated by fashion

Place of production

South Germany, Germany

Medium

oil on panel

Type of object

paintings

Accession number

22.1997

Painting on wood of a landsknecht, or mercenary, and bystanders, once part of a larger work. The mercenary stands with his back to the viewer and his head turned to the right in profile. He wears a white hat with a brim of white jewelled ostrich feathers and a black ribbon over the crown; a white hooded cloak with a black T-formation at the top with three decorative rope knots, edged in black with a tassel from the hood; a white jacket with tiered sleeves and slashed details revealing black fabric beneath; similar breeches on his left leg tied with a ribbon; white stockings that are striped on his right leg, with black slip-on shoes.

In the left foreground, there is a partially visible figure dressed in an orange tunic. There are nine figures in the background, mostly gathered in a group at the right of the composition. To the left, there is a step on which stands a half-visible man wearing black cloak and a brown leather boot. At the back of the step, there is a woman in a green dress with a white partlet, and a pearl on her forehead, holding her right hand to her face and a short stick in her left. Behind her, in a doorway, there is an Arabic woman with her head covered in a white cloth. To the right of the mercenary, there are three women, two are richly dressed. One is breast feeding a baby. She wears a turban, an orange shawl with geometric patterning and jewels. The third is in the foreground, a servant woman with bare feet, turning around, and holding a candle. Behind them, the head of a middle-aged man with a beard and green hat, a tonsured monk holding a yellow staff, a young man in a black hat trimmed with ostrich feathers and a black man in a colourful striped hood. A white and black building wall is visible behind the dense crowd.

Commentary

A fragment of a larger panel, or part of a multi-panelled painting, this painting depicts a group of onlookers, a detail from the biblical subject of Christ carrying the cross. The focal point of the work is now the elaborately dressed Landsknecht, seen from behind, who is surrounded by a multi-cultural crowd of bystanders. Depictions of the road to calvary often included people of all ages and races, to underline the universality of Christ’s message.

Landsknechts were highly successful Germanic mercenary soldiers whose regiments were primarily made up of pikemen and foot soldiers and could be hired by different rulers to fight in military campaigns across Europe. They imitated the more established Swiss mercenaries who fought for leaders including the Pope. The elaborate costume worn by the landsknecht in this painting is reminiscent of those worn by the Papal Swiss Guards.

It is an interesting work not just for its religious narrative, but also for its costume. Landsknechts were known to ignore sumptuary laws (legislation put in place to limit extravagance), spending their significant salaries on elaborate clothing, weaponry and armour. This panel, disjointed from its original religious composition becomes a portrait of the unidentified soldier, his status and wealth given primacy in a way that would not be usual in Renaissance portraiture.

Stylistic comparison indicates that this panel was made somewhere in Southern Germany in the second decade of the sixteenth century. The slashed sleeves and feathers worn by the mercenary are similar to costumes worn by the sitters in Lucas Cranach the Elder's painting 'Two Electors of Saxony' of 1509 (National Gallery, London, Inventory number: NG6539).

Phillippa Plock, 2012 and Nandipa Mabere, 2022

Physical description

Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)

923 x 517 (sight size)

Physical details

Notes from Jim Dimond Conservation report 5.12.2023

Oak panel bevelled towards the edges. Slight convex warp (from front) There are three vertical lines of a matting material, possibly horsehair glued down the panel, presumably to support some weakness in the structure. It is not clear how many planks make up the panel, possibly two. Joins between planks appears stable. There are numerous dark marks down the left side (reverse) most likely to be filling putty in wood worm damage. The vertical grain is very raised throughout. There is some evidence of wood worm damage around the edges of the panel.
There are wood battens attached to all edges. There is a recent looking split from bottom edge, 20cms from left corner. Edges of split are jagged and fresh looking. From the front, the panel is slightly stepped at the split. There is a further old split from bottom edge, 22cms from left travelling 8cms into the panel.

Signature & date

not signed or dated

History

Provenance

Acquired by Alice de Rothschild; inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild; inherited by his wife Dorothy de Rothschild; then to a Rothschild Family Trust.

Collection

Waddesdon (Rothschild Family)
On loan since 1997

Bibliography

Related files

- Portrait of Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous by Lucas Cranach the Elder; the sitter wearing a similar costume to the mercenary depicted. In the collection of the National Gallery, London [Inventory number: NG6539], https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/lucas-cranach-the-elder-portrait-of-johann-friedrich-the-magnanimous

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