Georg Gärtner the Younger

Lüttgens collection, Aachen.

Aachen, Museumsverein, Ausstellung altniederländischer und altdeutscher Gemälde aus Aachener Privatbesitz, 1 May - 2 June 1929, no. 17;
Aachen, Suermondt-Museum, Schöne Dinge aus einer Aachener Privatsammlung, October 1971, no. 45.

Ausstellung altniederländischer und altdeutscher Gemälde aus Aachener Privatbesitz, exhibition catalogue, Aachen 1929, pp. 11-12, cat. no. 17, reproduced incorrectly as no. 16.

The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The paint layers are in an excellent state of preservation, free of wear or abrasion. Restoration is visible with the naked eye by its slight shift in tone as well as the thickness of the restoration paint seen with raking light. These retouches are found in the figure's upper arm near the shoulder and in the chest, with a vertical stroke in the forehead. A few minor scratches are located along the bottom edge, right of center. Ultraviolet illumination indicates the painting has been selectively cleaned at some point, focusing on removing the somewhat discolored varnish from the flesh passages and print hanging on the wall, leaving the remainder of the composition alone. The vertically grained wood panel support has been thinned and a cradle attached to the reverse. Three cracks, all open and visible from the front, have developed adjacent cradle members. Removal of the cradle should be undertaken to repair the grainoriented cracks and prevent new ones from developing. Cleaning could be considered at the same time, although the discoloration of the varnish is not so severe as to strictly require removal.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Signed and dated 1618, this depiction of a young Saint John the Evangelist is a large and rare work by Georg Gärtner the Younger, a German painter and engraver active in Nuremberg in the first half of the seventeenth century.  After the death of Hans Hoffmann in circa 1591-1592, Gärtner became one of the foremost artists of the Dürer Renaissance, a phenomenon of increased interest in Albrecht Dürer’s works that spread throughout Europe in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries with a particularly strong foothold in Nuremberg and in the courts of Prague and Munich.  Praised by his contemporaries as “felicissimus Düreri imitator,” Gärtner copied Dürer’s works and also developed his own distinct style by combining figures and elements from various Dürer paintings and prints.  

In the present painting, the youthful apostle with long flowing hair and clothed in vibrant green and red fabrics sits within a study surrounded by a number of his attributes, including the eagle, a pen, and a book opened to a page from his gospel.  Characteristics of the Dürer Renaissance are found in the soft modelling, in the golden light that highlights John’s features, and in the print hanging on the wall which is based on Dürer’s 1514 engraving of Virgin and Christ Child standing on a Crescent Moon.¹ The painstaking detail with which Gärtner completed this work is particularly visible in the soft golden wisps hair surrounding John’s face as well as in the rendering of the clear glass bottle on the ledge near the print.

1.  See A. Bartsch, Le Peintre graveur, Vienna 1803, vol. 7, no. 53.33.