16-3/8 x 11-3/8 in.
Gift of Mrs. Booth Tarkington
European Painting and Sculpture Before 1800
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Ludger tom Ring's output consists almost entirely of still lifes and portraits of stolid German burghers and their families. The man portrayed in this work is a doctor, a fact clearly conveyed by the books in his library, authored by Hippocrates, Galen, Vesalius and others.
The inclusion of a skull and an hourglass, common in Northern Renaissance portraits, is meant as a reminder of the brevity of life and the fleeting nature of worldly pursuits, including the intellectual endeavors of the physician.
The leather-bound books, some labeled with names of physicians like Hippocrates and Galen, as well as the skull and the fur-lined scholar’s cloak led previous owners to conclude that the figure depicted here was a doctor.
Comparison with another portrait has led to the recent recognition of the doctor as the Nuremberg city physician Volcher Coiter, and anatomist and specialist on bones. The delicate treatment of the hair and beautifully executed folds, however, exhibit a painterly preciousness regardless of identification.
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