The portrait of Niklas Buck

Dated 1718, this portrait represents a character that we have comparatively little information about: Nikolas (Niklas) Buck, a native of Schwaben was a resident of Vienna, between 1718 and 1720. Since we have no record of a painting, done by a painter named Buck, the probable explanation is that the young man was a successful adventurer at the Viennese court, who chose to pose carrying the attributes of painting. The scroll, under the left hand of the would-be painter, carries an inscription, with a message purporting to throw some light on the circumstances, under which the portrait was done:
„Ich habe sonst gezeigt Floreten wohl zu führen Und in die Chirurgie mich auch versiert gemacht Nun mehro mit der Zeit kann mich das Mahlen zieren Das Tanzen hat mich schon an Kaisers Hof gebracht. Nicol. Buck aus Schwaben 1718.”
("I used to show you how to wield the fencing foil/ And proved adapt in the art of surgery/ from now on, I shall take up painting/ Dance has brought me to the Emperor’s court/ Nicol. Buck of Swaben 1718.").
The unusual way, in which Buck chose to sit, resulted in an unusual kind of portrait, outside the traditional paradigm of human excellence, and focused on the modern spirit of thematic experiment. Without resorting to facile representational techniques, the painter set his mark high, by choosing an exemplarily demanding artistic representation, of a subject inclined to joking and self-irony. ©Dana Roxana Hrib, European Art Gallery Guidebook, Second edition, Sibiu 2011.