PORTRAITS OF JOHANNES IV AND SIGISMUND

                                    PORTRAITS OF JOHANNES IV AND SIGISMUND, DUKES OF BAVARIA

GERMAN, SWABIAN, CA. 1470

THE VERSO CONTAINS VERSES IN GERMAN AND LATIN

From a manuscript, “Reim-Chronic”

(Text and Picture Copyright in 1977 by the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester which is not responsible for this publication.)

               

Portraits of Bavarian Princes

The identity of the figures is established by the names inscribed above each prince and by their shield of alliances. They were the sons of Albrecht III, Duke of Bavaria, whose will they were entrusted to share the government. After Johannes’s death of the plague in 1463, Sigismund (1439-1501) continued to rule to 1467. Further details about the historical background are contained in the full entry in the catalogue, Master Drawings & Prints, William H. Schab Gallery.

Three drawings from the same album, which was broken up in 1935, are in the Print Room, Berlin-Dahlem, and are related to a partially preserved fresco cycle which used to decorate the residence of the Bavarian princes in Munich and of which the remains are in the Bayerische Nationalmuseum. The Frescoes are by the Master of the Polling Panels. (75.128).