Johannes Kleberger

Johannes Kleberger was an international merchant who is believed to have returned to his hometown of Nuremberg in 1525, a year before this extravagant portrait, unique among Dürer’s works, was painted. A successful businessman with excellent connections to the French court, he had been living abroad since 1521, first in Bern and soon afterwards in Lyon, and had become one of the most important financiers of King Francis I. There is perhaps a relationship between Dürer’s commission for this painting and the marriage of Kleberger to Felizitas Imhoff in 1528: Felizitas, the daughter of the well-known Humanist and friend of Dürer, Willibald Pirckheimer, had been widowed in 1526. Pirckheimer had initially sought to prevent the remarriage of his daughter. Kleberger, who was repeatedly described as a brilliant opportunist, may have used this valuable artwork, which in its conception would have suited the Humanist, as a tool in his courtship. To Pirckheimer’s dismay, the bridegroom was to leave his new wife a year later. Kleberger is looking to his right in a decisive and concentrated manner. The almost unpleasantly moving paradox of the composition quickly becomes apparent: the bust, which appears to be pulsing with life, is cut off sharply at the bottom and is balanced in the circular opening of a wall. Only the dark background lessens the impression of instability. The Latin inscription is similar to that on classical portrait medallions, giving the name, origin and age of the subject as well as the cabbalistic sign of the sol in corde leonis, an expression of his astrological constellation at birth, which promised unusual power and strength. In consultation with Kleberger, Dürer used the four spandrel areas for other references to the character and position of his patron. At the left above,the astrological sign for Leo surrounded by six stars; to its right is the artist’s signature. At the left below a figurative coat of arms: three green clover-leaves above a yellow triple hill; to its right the clover-leaves are repeated, but with the addition of a helmet to “ennoble” them. © Cäcilia Bischoff, Masterpieces of the Picture Gallery. A Brief Guide to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 2010