German School, early 16th Century

Barons Niedermayer von und zu Alternburg, of Bavaria, before 1840 (their wax seal affixed to the reverse);
Dr. Alois Arquint, Switzerland;
By whose Estate sold London, Sotheby's, 21 April 2005, lot 17, for £20,000, where purchased by the present owner.

Although evidently inspired by German early sixteenth-century iconographic types, such as the Christuskopf of Lucas Cranach the Elder of circa 1509 sold in these Rooms 7 July 2004, lot 31, the present panel also betrays the influence of northern Italian and specifically Lombard painting of a similar date, suggesting that its author may have worked there. We are grateful to Ludwig Meyer for suggesting a possible association with the work of Hans Dürer (Nuremberg 1490-1534 Krakow), the younger brother of Albrecht Dürer, who is recorded in a document of 1511 as being in Milan, but to whose hand no work has yet been securely attributed.