Ritratto di Niklaus Dachselhofer (1595 – 1670)
Samuel Hoffmann (Zurigo 1591 – Francoforte 1648)
Samuel Hoffmann (Zurich 1591 – Frankfurt 1648)
Attributed to
Portrait of Niklaus Dachselhofer (1595 – 1670)
renowned Swiss statesman, patrician and Schultheiss (mayor/chief magistrate) of Bern
Oil on canvas
68 x 55 cm
In a box frame with gilded racemes, 82 x 70 cm.
Documentary inscriptions: “Aetat 41/a: 1637/ EL: CONS: 1636”
Age of the subject “41” (in 1637), Electus Consiliarius (Elected Councillor in 1636)
Heraldic elements: In the top left-hand corner is the coat of arms of the Bernese patrician Dachselhofer family (gold field with a black badger’s paw).
This is a work of historical significance, as well as being of excellent quality, depicting a half-length portrait of Niklaus Dachselhofer (1595–1670), one of the most influential and prominent political figures in 17th-century Switzerland, a magistrate and member of the Swiss patriciate, first as a member of the Small Council, which held executive power, and subsequently as Schultheiss (Mayor/Avoyer) of Bern, the highest office in the Republic.
The painting was therefore conceived as a dynastic celebratory portrait to mark the advancement in rank and public office that took place in the years 1636–1637: joining the select Council represented the true turning point in the career of a patrician nobleman, a milestone so significant as to justify the commissioning of a formal portrait featuring the family coat of arms.
The formal characteristics of the work, as well as its remarkable technical skill, lead us to propose Samuel Hoffmann (Zurich 1591 – Frankfurt 1648), a highly renowned portraitist, as the artist.
The work indeed displays the characteristic features of the great 17th-century Flemish-Dutch school, which Hoffmann learnt whilst working directly in Antwerp as a pupil in the prestigious workshop of Pieter Paul Rubens, and subsequently in Amsterdam until 1628.
On his return to Switzerland, Hoffmann became one of the most sought-after and successful portraitists for the wealthy bourgeoisie and the aristocracy of magistrates and politicians, portraying a great many Swiss dignitaries with the very same solemn style.
The rigorous yet psychological rendering of the face evokes the portraiture of Rubens that the painter had absorbed, particularly in the expressive and piercing gaze that almost seems to engage the viewer, combined with the subtle expression lines and the hint of a faint smile – distinctive features common to much of his portrait output.
Likewise, the extraordinary rendering of the complex pleated white ruff, achieved through vigorous, textured brushstrokes of thick white paint, is a technique unique to Hoffmann and one of his most recognisable stylistic hallmarks, used to impart a sense of three-dimensionality and capture the ambient light, setting it apart from the dark, austere background.
The practice of placing the coat of arms in the upper corner, with the subject’s age or the date of election positioned directly beneath the shield, faithfully follows the format Hoffmann used for his clients from the upper middle class and the judiciary of the Swiss cantons.
In this instance, we can see the official coat of arms of the Bernese patrician Dachselhofer family (a shield with a gold background bearing the black outline of a badger’s clawed paw pointing upwards): in heraldry, this type of coat of arms is known as a ‘speaking coat of arms’, a shield whose symbol directly refers to the meaning of the owner’s surname (in German, ‘Dachs’ means ‘badger’).
A painting similar to ours is now part of the collections of the Swiss National Museum in Zurich, specifically from the collection of the Château de Wildegg (Fig. 1 – inventory number SW-410). Meanwhile, two other portraits of the subject, painted later, date from 1666 (Fig. 2 – collection of the Burgerbibliothek in Bern) and 1645 (private collection) respectively.
Good condition.
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