Portrait of a Clergyman (Johann Dorsch?)

1516

Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

Shown from the chest up, a pale-skinned, clean-shaven man looks off to our left against a moss-green background in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s shoulders and face are angled to our left, and he looks up and in that direction with silvery-blue eyes under flat, thin brows. The end of his short nose is slightly flattened, and his thin, pale pink lips are pressed together in an uneven line. He has the suggestion of a cleft chin set in a square jaw. Auburn-brown, wavy, chin-length hair and bangs frame his face under a black floppy cap. His dark garment has a high neck and falls in vertical folds down his chest. The earthy green background darkens around the edges. The artist signed and dated the painting, 1516, near the top right corner with a monogram of a capital letter D tucked between the wide, long legs of a capital A.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Although the sitter's identity is not verified, he is possibly Johann Dorsch, a cleric in Nuremberg. The clergyman's ardor, spiritual zeal, and intense determination are communicated through the turn of the head, the fixed, staring eyes, and the tight, compressed lips.

With great respect for reality, Dürer has recorded every detail of the man's appearance regardless of how small or unimportant it may be: the wrinkles and lines of the face, the individual strands of fine hair, the coarse skin texture, and even the reflection of window panes in the irises of the eyes. This incisive clarity and accuracy derive in large part from Dürer's experience in the graphic arts.

The portrait is of further interest for having been painted on parchment rather than on wood, which was still the most common support. Experimenting with techniques and materials, Dürer also used silk and linen at times. The animal skin gives the paint surface a fine, smooth quality and lends amazing richness to the oil colors.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/german-painting-fifteenth-through-seventeenth-centuries.pdf

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 35

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on parchment on fabric

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    painted surface: 41.7 x 32.7 cm (16 7/16 x 12 7/8 in.)
    support: 43 x 33 cm (16 15/16 x 13 in.)
    framed: 60.5 x 51.3 x 4.4 cm (23 13/16 x 20 3/16 x 1 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1952.2.17

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Paul von Praun [d. 1616] and descendents, Nuremberg, by 1719 until at least 1801.[1] Count Johann Rudolph Czernin von Chudenitz [1757-1845], Vienna, by 1821;[2] by inheritance through the family of the Counts Czernin, Vienna; Count Eugen Czernin von Chudenitz [1892-1955], Vienna, until 1950; (Frederick Mont, New York, and Newhouse Galleries, New York); purchased 1950 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1952 to NGA.
[1] Stadtarchiv, Nuremberg, Familienarchiv von Praun, E28, No. 1477, unpublished manuscript, Inventar des Paulus von Praunschen Kunstkabinetts im Stiftungshaus am alten Weinmarkt... (1719) 9: "N.119 Von Albr. Dürer Johann Dors gewesen Pfarrers beij St./Johañis contrefait auf Pergament von öel/farb gemahlt, mit ein Schüber, Das Gemäl/ist 18 [sic] S.[chuh] 4 Z[oll] hoch und i.8 S.[chuh] 1. Z[oll] breit." (Letter of 9 April 1977 to John Hand from Dr. Max Nüchterlein, Nuremberg, as well as a photocopy of the inventory entry and a transcription are in NGA curatorial files.) A Schuh is a unit of measurement equal to approximately one foot, while a Zoll equals approximately one inch. See John Henry Alexander, Universal Dictionary of Weights and Measures, Ancient and Modern; Reduced to the Standards of the United States of America (Baltimore, 1850) 103-104, 124-125. In the cemetery of the Saint Johannis church in Nuremberg, John Hand found a label accompanying an iron "Grabsteinmass," used for measuring graves, which indicated that a "Nurnberger Werkschuh" equaled 27.84 cm. The dimensions given in Christopher Theophile de Murr, Description du cabinet de Monsieur Paul de Praun à Nuremberg. (Nuremberg, 1797) 14, are: "Haut. 1 Pied, 4 Pouces; Larg. 1 Pied, 1 Pouce." Joseph Heller, Das Leben und die Werke Albrecht Dürer's, 3 vols., Bamberg, 1827: 2:231, gives the German equivelent as: "1 Sch[uh] 4 Z[oll] hoch, 1 Sch[uh] 1 Z[oll] breit."
[2] Heller 1827, 260, cites the painting as being in the Czernin collection in 1821, but seems unaware that this is the same painting that he noted earlier in the Praun collection. His description, however, is clearly that of the Gallery's picture, "Brustbild eines Mannes, welcher nach Rechts gewendet ist, mit dem Zeichen und der Jahrszahl AD 1516. Grüner hintergrund auf Leinwand; ohnegefähr 15Z. hoch, 10Z. breit." The mention of Leinwand suggests but does not confirm that the backing with fabric took place before 1827.
[3] Letter of Frederick Mont to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 6 February 1950, in NGA curatorial files. Nancy Marshall of Newhouse Galleries, in a letter to John Hand of 3 May 1988, in NGA curatorial files, noted that from the extant records it was unclear whether the painting was owned jointly or given on consignment. Marshall did confirm that the number 57737 on a paper sticker on the reverse was a Newhouse Galleries number, as indicated by Colin Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian, Oxford, 1977: 16. The bill of sale to the Kress Foundation for the painting, dated 3 May 1950, is on Newhouse Galleries letterhead (copy in NGA curatorial files). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1666.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1928

  • Albrecht Dürer Ausstellung, Germanisches Museum, Nuremberg, 1928, no. 61.

1948

  • Loaned to a small exhibition of portraits of Huldrych Zwingli, Schweizerisches Landesmuseum, Zurich, 1948-1949, no cat.

2007

  • Durero y Cranach: Arte y Humanismo en la Alemania del Renacimento, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2007-2008, no. 105, repro.

2013

  • Albrecht Dürer: His Art in Context, Städel Museum, Frankfurt, 2013-2014, no. 4.9, repro.

2018

  • Dürer e il Rinascimento tra Germania e Italia, Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2018.

Bibliography

1769

  • Schöber, David Gottfried. Albrecht Dürers, eines der grössesten Meister und Künstler seiner Zeit, Leben, Schriften u. Kunstwerke. Leipzig and Schleiz, 1769: 162.

1778

  • Murr, Christophe Gottlieb von. Beschreibung der vornehmsten Merkwürdigkeiten in des H.R. Reichs freyen Stadt Nürnberg und auf der hohen Schule zu Altdorf. Nürnberg, 1778: 470, no. 119.

1797

  • Murr, Christophe Theophile de. Description du Cabinet de Monsieur Paul de Praun à Nuremberg. Nürnberg, 1797: 14, no. 119.

1823

  • Böckh, Franz Heinrich. Merkwürdigkeiten der Haupt-und Residenz-Stadt Wien und ihrer nächsten Umgebungen: Ein Handbuch für Einheimische und Fremde. 2 vols. Vienna, 1823: 1:296.

1827

  • Heller, Joseph. Das Leben und die Werke Albrecht Dürers. 3 vols. Bamberg, 1827: 2:231, no. 6, 260, no. e.

1866

  • Waagen, Gustav Friedrich. Die vornehmsten Kunstdenkmäler in Wien. 2 vols. Vienna, 1866: 1:298, no. 28.

1876

  • Thausing, Mariz. Dürer: Geschichte seines Lebens und seiner Kunst. Leipzig, 1876: 384. (English ed. Albert Dürer, His Life and Works. 2 vols. London, 1882, 2:132.).

1891

  • Katalog der Gemälde-Gallerie seiner Excellenz des Grafen Jaromir Czernin von Chudenitz. Vienna, 1891: 17, no. 164 (also subsequent catalogues, 1903, 1908, 1936).

1893

  • Thode, Henry. "Drei Porträts von Albrecht Dürer." Jahrbuch der königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen. 14 (1893): 210.

1905

  • Weixlgärtner, Arpad. Review of Dürer, Des Meisters Gemälde: Kupferstiche und Holzschnitte in 447 Abbildungen. Leipzig and Stuttgart, 1904. (Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben, vol. 4), Valentin Scherer, ed. In Die Graphischen Künste, suppl. Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Vervielfältigende Kunst 28, nos. 3/4 (1905): 69. Of no. 50 in Scherer, "Scheint mir kein Dürer zu sein."

1908

  • Scherer, Valentin, ed. Dürer: Des Meisters Gemälde, Kupferstiche und Holzschnitte in 473 Abbildungen. (Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben, vol. 4) 3rd ed. Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1908: 393, repro. 55.

1914

  • Friedländer, Max J. "Dürer, Albrecht." In Thieme-Becker 37 vols. 1907-1950. Leipzig, 1914: 10:70.

1916

  • Waldmann, Emil. Albrecht Dürer. Leipzig, 1916: 89, no. 57, repro.

1928

  • Flechsig, Eduard. Albrecht Dürer, sein Leben und seine Künstlerische Entwicklung. 2 vols. Berlin, 1928: 1:411-412.

  • Winkler, Friedrich. Dürer. Des Meisters Gemälde, Kupferstiche und Holzschnitte. (Klassiker der Kunst, 4th ed.). Berlin and Leipzig, 1928: 416, repro. 59.

1934

  • Kleine Mitteilungen: "Ein neuer Dürer." Technische Mitteilungen für Malerei 50 (1934): 115-116.

  • Tietze Hans. "Das Dürerbild der Sammlung Czernin." Pantheon 13-14 (April 1934): 110, repro.

1936

  • Wilczek, Karl. Katalog der Graf Czernin'schen Gemäldegalerie in Wien. Vienna, 1936: 34, no. 164, repro.

1938

  • Tietze, Hans, and Erika Tietze-Conrat. Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke Albrecht Dürers. 3 vols. Basel and Leipzig, 1938: 2:119, no. 663, repro. 278.

1943

  • Panofsky, Erwin. Albrecht Dürer. 2 vols. Princeton, 1943: 1:192; 2:18, no. 81.

1946

  • Hoffmann, Hans. "Zu Dürers Bildnis eines jungen Mannes in der Galerie Czernin in Wien." In Oskar Farner, Huldrych Zwingli. Seine Entwicklung zum Reformator 1506-1520. 3 vols. Zurich, 1946: 2:425-436, frontispiece.

1948

  • "Ein Zwingli-Bildis von Dürer?" Atlantis 20 (January 1948): 27-29, repros.

  • Braune, Heinz. "Zu Dürers 'Zwinglibildnis' im Landesmuseum." Neue Zürcher Zeitung 169, no. 2595 (6 December, 1948): 13.

  • Hoffmann, Hans. "Ein mutmassliches Bildnis Huldrych Zwinglis." Zwingliana. Beiträge zur Geschichte Zwinglis 7, no. 9 (1948): 497-501, repro.

1949

  • "Ausstellungen." In Schweizerisches Landesmuseum in Zürich, Siebenundfünfzigster Jahresbericht 1948 (1949): 12.

  • "Albrecht Dürers muttmassliches Zwinglibildnis." Reformierte Schweiz 6, no. 3 (March 1949): cover, t.p. repro.

1951

  • "Ausstellungen." In Schweizerisches Landesmuseum in Zürich, Achtundfünfzigster und Neunundfünfzigster Jahresbericht 1949/50 (1951): 17.

  • "Dürers 'Zwingli' ging nach USA." Die Weltkunst 21 (1 January 1951): 4, repro.

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 194, no. 85, repro.

1954

  • Tietze, Hans. Treasures of the Great National Galleries. New York, 1954: 117, 122, pl. 299.

1955

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. "The National Gallery of Art at Washington: Acquisitions 1945-1955." The Studio 150, no. 748 (July 1955): 6, repro. 3.

  • Bushbeck, Ernst H. "Die Czernin'sche Gemäldegalerie und die 'Sammlung Czernin'." In Katalog der Residenzgalerie Salzburg mit Sammlung Czernin. Salzburg, 1955: 21.

1956

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 38, repro.

1957

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 70.

  • Winkler, Friedrich. Albrecht Dürer. Leben und Werk. Berlin, 1957: 268, repro. fig. 138.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 305, repro.

1960

  • Broadley Hugh T. German Painting in the National Gallery of Art (Booklet no. 9 in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC). Washington, 1960: 5, 24-25, color repro.

  • The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 10, 19, repro.

1961

  • Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 80, 210, color fig. 72.

1962

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 72-73, color repro.

  • Neugass, Fritz. "Die Auflösung der Sammlung Kress." Die Weltkunst 32 (1 January 1962): 4.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 118, repro. 119.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 46.

  • Cooke, H. Lester. Galeria Nacional de Washington. Translated by Maria Teresa de la Cruz. Madrid, 1965: 220-221, repros.

1966

  • Musper, Heinrich Theodor. Albrecht Dürer. Translated by Robert Eric Wolf. New York, [1966]: 26.

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:112-113, color repro.

1968

  • Zampa, Giorgio and Angela Ottino della Chiesa. L'opera completa di Dürer. Milan, 1968: 110, no. 148, repro.

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 38, repro.

  • Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 102, color repro.

  • Christensen, Erwin O. A Guide to Art Museums in the United States. New York, 1968: 130, no. 280, fig.

1970

  • Bialostocki, Jan. "The Eye and the Window: Realism and Symbolism of Light-Reflections in the Art of Albrecht Dürer and His Predecessors." Festschrift für Gert von der Osten. Cologne, 1970: 159, 164, 161, fig. 4.

  • Cooke, Hereward Lester. The National Gallery of Art in Washington. Munich and Ahrbeck/Hanover, 1970: 88-89, color fig. 41.

1971

  • Anzelewsky, Fedja. Albrecht Dürer: Das malerische Werk. Berlin, 1971: 242, no. 133, pl. 163-165. (Rev. ed. 1991 248-249, no. 133, color pl. 162.)

1972

  • Farner, Konrad. "Hat Dürer Zwingli gemalt?" In Zürich-Aspekte eines Kantons. Edited by Daniel Bodmer, et al. Zürich, 1972: 146-152, repro.

1973

  • Oehler, Lisa. "Das Dürermonogramm auf Werken der Dürerschule." Städel-Jahrbuch N.F. 4 (1973): 63, 70-71, fig. 27.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue (National Gallery of Art). Washington, 1975: 116-117, repro.

  • Cinotti, Mia, ed. The National Gallery of Art of Washington and Its Paintings. Great Galleries of the World. Edinburgh, 1975: unpaginated, no. 94, repro.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, [1975]: 152-153, color repro.

1976

  • Strieder, Peter. Dürer. Milan, 1976: 139, 186, no. 52, repros.

1977

  • Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 16-19, fig. 17.

1979

  • Hadley, Rollin van N. "What Might Have Been: Pictures Mrs. Gardner Did Not Acquire." Fenway Court (1979): 44, repro.

  • Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 56-57, pl. 39.

1980

  • Buschbeck, Ernst H. "Die Geschichte der Sammlung Czernin." In Residenzgalerie mit Sammlung Czernin und Sammlung Schönborn-Buchheim: Katalog mit Kurzführer in Deutsch und Englisch. Salzburg, 1980: 19. (English translation as supplement; "History of the Collection Czernin": 18.)

  • Anzelewsky, Fedja. Dürer--vie et oeuvre. Translated by Monique Fuchs. Fribourg, 1980: 187-188, 191-192, fig. 181.

1982

  • Anzelewsky, Fedja. Dürer: His Art and Life. Translated by Heide Grieve. London, 1982: 182-183, 187-188, fig. 181.

  • Mende, Matthias. "Dürers Bildnis des Kaspar Nützel." Mitteilungen des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg 69 (1982): 130, 132, 136, 138-139, fig. 8.

  • Strieder, Peter. Albrecht Dürer. Paintings. Prints. Drawings. Translated from German by Nancy M. Gordon and Walter L. Strauss. New York, 1982: 242-243, fig. 284.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 152, no. 161, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 141, repro.

1987

  • Berenson, Bernard, and Isabella Stewart Gardner. The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner 1887-1924. Edited by Rollin van Hadley. Boston, 1987: 139, 140-141, 143, 144.

1988

  • Southgate, M. Therese. "The Cover: Albrecht Dürer, Portrait of a Clergyman (Johann Dorsch?)." Journal of the American Medical Association 260, no. 21 (2 December 1988): cover, 3101, color repro.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 64, repro.

1993

  • Hand, John Oliver, with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1993: 61-66, color repro. 63.

1995

  • Löcher, Kurt. Review of German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries, by John Oliver Hand with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. Kunstchronik 43 no. 1 (January 1995): 16.

1997

  • Hammerschmied, Ilse. Albrecht Dürers kunsttheoretische Schriften. Egelsbach, 1997: 252-253, 345, fig. 38.

2001

  • Mende, Matthias. "Dürer, Albrecht." In Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. Munich and Leipzig, 1992-[unfinished] [vols.] Munich and Leipzig, 2001: 30:301.

  • Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA II: Covers and Essays from The Journal of the American Medical Association. Chicago, 2001: 48-49, 209, color repro.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 144-145, no. 112, color repro.

2010

  • Luber, Katherine Crawford. “Dürer as Painter.” In The Essential Dürer, edited by Larry Silver and Jeffrey Chipps Smith. Philadelphia, 2010: 68, 69.

2014

  • Sander, Jochen. "Dürer face à ses contemporains." L'object d'art 497 (janvier 2014): cover, table of contents, color repros.

Inscriptions

upper right: 1516 / AD (in monogram)

Wikidata ID

Q20175457

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