Artwork
Bildnis Anna von Potschach
Bildnis Anna von Potschach is an unspecified painting by the Mannerist artist Hans Schöpfer. It dates from 1549 and is held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections.
About this work
Overview
Hans Schöpfer’s 1549 portrait, titled *Bildnis Anna von Potschach*, is part of the collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. The work presents a single figure rendered in a restrained manner, with a plain backdrop that focuses attention on the sitter’s attire and demeanor.
Subject & Meaning
The painting depicts a woman dressed in a dark, high‑collared gown and a black hat, seated with her hands placed on her lap; one hand holds a small, unidentified object. Her pale complexion, dark eyes and neutral expression convey a formal, perhaps commemorative, representation typical of mid‑16th‑century portraiture.
Technique & Style
Schöpfer employs a limited palette and minimal modeling, resulting in a flat appearance with little chiaroscuro. The inscription in German above the sitter’s head supplies her name and a brief phrase, integrating text directly into the visual field, a practice common in German portraiture of the period.
History & Provenance
Created in 1549, the portrait has remained in German collections, ultimately entering the Alte Pinakothek’s holdings. Its survival in a public museum provides scholars with a clear example of Schöpfer’s late‑Renaissance approach to individual portraiture.
Artist & collection
Portrait of a woman
Portrait of Anna von Wehingen
Elizabeth Roydon, Lady Golding
Portrait of Ursula Nothaft
Portrait of a mother (the daughter is overpainted)
Mechthilde von Bayern (Kopie nach dem Bildnis Hans Schöpfers d. Ä.)
Lady Lee (Margaret Wyatt, born about 1509)
Beatrix Markgräfin von Baden, Gemahlin des Pfalzgrafen Johann II. von Sponheim
Maria Jakobäa, Gemahlin Herzog Wilhelms IV. von Bayern
Woman from Hensbroek in country dress