Susanna and the Elders, full-page miniature on a leaf from an Album Amicorum, manuscript on paper [Germany (perhaps south-east Germany or Bohemia), late sixteenth century (probably c.1560)]

single leaf, approximately 140mm. by 200mm., with Susanna seated on the edge of an ornamental fountain in a garden, wrapped in a cloth and covering one breast with her hand as she fights off the attentions of the two elderly judges (following the narrative of Daniel 13), here as bearded men in heavy robes and flat black hats, their facial features and wrinkled brows exaggerated with dark brushstrokes in order to portray their monstrosity, all before a walled city and beneath a banderole, verso with the arms and crowned helm, surmounted by a roaring lion, of “Christophorus Thurzo Aurelia”, some small stains, else good condition, painted wooden frame

It is of interest that this leaf was signed by Kristóf I Thurzó, Graf von Graweneck, Freiherr von Boinicz and the head of the princely Thurzó family of Hungary. They originated from Betlenfalva in Szepes county (today Betlanovce, Spiš) and in the late fifteenth century married into the exceedingly wealthy Fuggers of Augsburg. In the sixteenth century they extended their control over Kraków, Levoča, Szepes, Gemer, central Upper Hungary, Transylvania, Bohemia and neighbouring areas of Germany, acquiring a monopoly on the trade of copper and dominating the production of precious and non-ferrous metals in Central Europe. The family were among the most prominent in Hungary and became perpetual ispáns (hereditary heads) of the Szepes (Spiš) and Árva (today Orava) counties (both now Slovakia). They died out in the seventeenth century.