Follower of Leonhard Beck

Acquired by Gottfried George Balck (1781-1815) [English Officer in the King's German Legion on the staff of Lord Wellington], great great grandfather of the present owner.

The prime version of this portrait, which was with Galerie St. Lucas, Vienna before 1928,  was ascribed to the Augsburg master Leonhard Beck by Ernst Buchner (see E. Buchner: "Leonhard Beck als Maler" in E. Buchner and K. Feuchtmayr, Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Kunst, Vol. II. Augsburger Kunst der Spätgotik und Renaissance, Augsburg 1928, pp. 399, 402, reproduced fig. 292).  That portrait was dated 1515 and the sitter's age given as 21.  Other versions of this portrait are in the collection of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor (Mildred Anna William Collection), San Francisco and the Musée d l'ancien Evêché, Chartres.  The prime version differs from the replicas in that the sitter's gaze is off to the right rather than directly out at the viewer.