Baron Eduard von der Heydt

Swiss, 1882 - 1964

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Shown from the waist up, a clean-shaven man with pale, peachy skin is dressed in black and burgundy red in this vertical portrait painting. His shoulders are as wide as the composition and his hat nearly touches the top edge, so he almost fills the painting. His body and face are angled to our right, and he looks off in that direction with hooded brown eyes under slightly raised brows. He has a long, bumped nose, high cheekbones, the hint of a five-o-clock shadow, and his pale pink lips are closed. His hair is cut straight across at ear length, and fuzzy sideburns come down to his jawline. A wide, soft black cap curves down either side of his head to ear level. He wears a white shirt with a delicate black pattern on the neckline, which is tied with a thin black ribbon. A voluminous dark red shawl or wrap has two black bands along the bottom hem, and it engulfs his sloping shoulders. In the lower corners of the painting, we see long black sleeves under the wrap. The sleeves have slashes to allow the white undergarment to show through. He is set against a lime-green background and illuminated by bright light from the upper right, which creates a darker green shadow behind him, to our left. The artist signed the painting with a symbol on a small, light brown panel, which appears to be affixed to the back wall in the upper left corner of the painting. The date, “1522,” appears over a winged serpent holding a ring in its mouth.
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Portrait of a Man, 1522, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1959.9.1

Portrait of a Man

Lucas Cranach the Elder · 1522 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1959.9.1

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Portrait of a Woman, 1522, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1959.9.2

Portrait of a Woman

Lucas Cranach the Elder · 1522 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1959.9.2

Bibliography

1932

  • Von Cohn, Wilhelm, and Eckart von Sydow. Sammlung Baron Eduard von der Heydt. 2 vols. Berlin, 1932.

1952

  • "Eduard von der Heydt sum 70. Geburtstag." Schriften des Museums Rietberg Zürich. 2 (September 1952).

1953

  • Wild, Doris. "Zwei Sammlungen in Ascona: Villa Bernardo und Monte Verità." Das Kunstwerk 7, Heft 6 (1953):33-34.

1955

  • Briner, E. "Die Sammlung Eduard von der Heydt im Museum Rietberg." Atlantis 27 (1955):111-112.

1959

  • Heydt, Eduard von der, and Werner von Rheinbaben. Auf dem Monte Verità. Erinnerungen und edanken über Menschen, Kunst un Polotik. Zurich, 1959

1998

  • Zaza-Sciolli, Lidia. "La Collection del Barone Eduard von der Heydt ad Ascona." Die Kunst zu Sammeln. Schweizer Kunstsammlungen seit 1848. Zurich, 1998: 251-260.