Portrait of Herrmann Bonnus on his Deathbed

Portrait of Herrmann Bonnus on his Deathbed

Title

Portrait of Herrmann Bonnus on his Deathbed

[cda 2018]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[cda 2018]

Painting on oak wood

[St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018]

The official portrait disappeared during the second decade of the twentieth century and was replaced by the contemporary copy. The deceased is shown from the right in three quarter profile laid out on his death bed. His face appears relaxed, his eyes are closed and his hair and beard are

The official portrait disappeared during the second decade of the twentieth century and was replaced by the contemporary copy. The deceased is shown from the right in three quarter profile laid out on his death bed. His face appears relaxed, his eyes are closed and his hair and beard are accurately clipped. He is wearing a pleated shirt and his body is covered, while his head is propped up on a pillow. The cloth is of a rich combination of gold brocade and a light red diamond-pattern, separated by a striped band. The bier stands in a room, suggested in the background, but partially obscured by a curtain.

[cda 2021]

Attribution
Hans Kemmer

Attribution

Hans Kemmer

[Exhib. Cat. Lübeck 2021, no. 5] [St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018] It is assumed that the official portrait and the contemporary copy were painted by one and the same artist. [Emmendörffer 1997, 160] '?' [Schaefer 1917, 6]

Production dates
about 1548
1548

Production dates

about 1548

When the official portrait disappeared in 1917 it was replace by the present contemporary copy [Emmendörffer 1997, 161]

1548

Included in the inscription on the original frame. [Emmedöffer 1997, 160]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 39 x 51.5 x 1.5 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 39 x 51.5 x 1.5 cm

  • Dimensions of epitaph: 127 x 260 x 4.2 cm

  • [St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018]

Signature / Dating

none

Inscriptions and Labels

There is no inscription on the portrait, but there is a long Latin text on the panel into which …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

  • There is no inscription on the portrait, but there is a long Latin text on the panel into which it is inserted.

  • 'Epitaphium Domini Magistri Hermanni Bonni, // Primi Ecclesiae Lubecensis superattendentis. Obijt // Anno MDXLVIII. duodecimo die Februarij // Aetatis anno XLIIII. // Eximios inter docta pietate ministros, // Sincere Christi qui pia jussa docent // Postremo minime ponendus in ordine Bonnus, // Seu vocem spectes, seu pia scripti viri // Musarum a puero ingenti perculsus amore, // Subdidit ingenio linguae utriusque decus. // Praefuit effreni magna cum laude juventae, // In qua summa rei spes melioris inest. // Ardua Transadijt sanctae penetralia linguae, // Thesaurum verae quae pietatis habent. // Hinc populo summi prompsit mandata tonantis, // Et moestis Christi dicta salutiferi. // Quid dicam, quoties malesani pectora vulgia // Demulsit, dictis ad meliora vocans. // Omnibus est vitae candore probatus honestae, // Optatus miseris portus est aura fuit. // Quanta bona in Bonno sint terris nuper adempta, // Agnosceris dammo, pulcra Lubeca, tuo. // Orandum, in messem det Christus ut ipse ministros, // Et servet coetus organa vera sui.'

  • [Emmendörffer 1997, 160, 161]

Owner
Kulturstiftung Hansestadt Lübeck, die Lübecker Museen
Repository
St. Annen-Museum, Lübeck
Location
Lübeck
CDA ID
DE_SAML_NONE-SAML001
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SAML_NONE-SAML001/

Provenance

At the request of the town council Lübeck's first superintendent Hermann Bonnus was portrayed for his epitaph while he was laid out in the Sängerkapelle of the Marienkirche in February 1548.
The portrait got lost during the 19th century and was replaced in 1917 by this contemporary copy. Little is known about this painting, but it was probably made for private devotion within the family [...]
[Exhib. Cat. Lübeck 2015, 367]

  • 1757 sold from a pivate collection, Lübeck (the daughter Hilcke Bonnus)
  • 1835 recorded in the inventory of the Munciple library, Lübeck
  • 1917 mentioned by Schaefer as still being in the municiple library
    [Schaefer 1917, 6]
  • 1917 inserted in the Bonnus-Epitaph in the Marienkirche, Lübeck to replace the lost official portrait
  • transferred to the St. Annen-Museum at the end of 1947
    [St. Annen-Museum, inventory sheet 1984]

Exhibitions

Lübeck 2015, no. 71
Lübeck 2021, no. 5

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. Lübeck 2021 176 005 Fig. p. 176
EditorDagmar Täube
TitleLucas Cranach der Ältere und Hans Kemmer. Meistermaler zwischen Renaissance und Reformation [Lübeck, St. Annen-Museum]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2021
Show Literature
Mayer 2021 110-111
AuthorMiriam Mayer
TitleInschriften und Signaturen. Überlegungen zur Verwendung von Schrift in ausgewählten Werken von Hans Kemmer.
Publicationin Dagmar Täube, ed., Lucas Cranach der Ältere und Hans Kemmer. Meistermaler zwischen Renaissance und Reformation [Lübeck, St. Annen-Museum]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2021
Pages103-113
Show Literature
Tacke 2021 88
AuthorAndreas Tacke
TitleCranach-on-Demand. Zu Wiederholungen in der Malerei
Publicationin Dagmar Täube, ed., Lucas Cranach der Ältere und Hans Kemmer. Meistermaler zwischen Renaissance und Reformation [Lübeck, St. Annen-Museum]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2021
Pages83-91
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Lübeck 2015 366-367 No. 71
EditorJan Friedrich Richter
TitleLübeck 1500 - Kunstmetropole im Ostseeraum
Year of Publication2015
Show Literature
Emmendörffer 1997 160-161 023
AuthorChristoph Emmendörffer
TitleHans Kemmer. Ein Lübecker Maler der Reformationszeit
Place of PublicationLeipzig
Year of Publication1997
Show Literature
Wittstock 1982 147
AuthorJürgen Wittstock
TitleKemmer, Hans (Johann)
Publicationin Schleswig-Holsteinischen Landesbibliothek, Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte und des Vereins für Lübeckische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, eds., Biographisches Lexikon für Schleswig-Holstein und Lübeck
Volume6
Place of PublicationNeumünster
Year of Publication1982
Pages146-147
Show Literature
Baltzer, Bruns et al. 1928 161
AuthorFriedrich Bruns, Johannes Baltzer, Hugo Rahtgens
TitleDie Klöster. Die kleineren Gotteshäuser der Stadt. Die Kirchen und Kapellen in den Außengebieten. Denk- und Wegekreuze und der Leidensweg Christi
SeriesDie Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler der Freien und Hansestadt Lübeck
Place of PublicationLübeck
Year of Publication1928
Show Literature
Schaefer 1917 6
AuthorKarl Schaefer
TitleDer Lübecker Maler Hans Kemmer. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Cranach-Schule
JournalMonatshefte für Kunstwissenschaft
Issue10
Year of Publication1917
Pages1-11
Show Literature
Bruns, Hirsch et al 1906 337
AuthorFriedrich Bruns, F. Hirsch, G. Schaumann
TitlePetrikirche. Marienkirche. Heilig-Geist-Hospital
SeriesDie Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler der Freien und Hansestadt Lübeck
VolumeBd. 2
Place of PublicationLübeck
Year of Publication1906
Show Literature
Mantels 1881 371-391
AuthorWilhelm Mantels
TitleBeiträge zur Lübisch-Hansischen Geschichte. Ausgewählte historische Arbeiten
Place of PublicationJena
Issue8
Year of Publication1881
Link https://archive.org/details/beitrgezurlb00mantuoft
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

The portrait is a removable component of an epitaph: It shows the corpse of Hermann Bonnus, the first superintendent of Lübeck [and was commissioned for his epitaph]. After his death on the 12th of February 1548 he was laid out for three days at his burial place in the Sängerkapelle of the Marienkirche. The epitaph consists of a simple rectangular panel into which the framed portrait was inserted at the top. The date when the deceased passed away is located beneath him, while an inscription consisting of five distichs lists his merits.

[Exhib. Cat. Lübeck 2015, 367]

The official portrait disappeared in 1917 and was replace by a contemporary copy, which was probably painted by one and the same artist (Kemmer?).

[Emmendörffer 1997, 160, 161]

  • Portrait of Herrmann Bonnus on his Deathbed, about 1548

Images

Compare images
  • overall

Technical studies

Support

The dimensions of the panel are 39 x 51.5 x c. 0.5 cm; it is probably made of oak wood and consists of two vertically aligned planks, the join runs along the centre. The panel has been trimmed on all four sides; at the right and left edges the pictorial space has been cropped.

The original panel was probably thinned before it was attached to a plywood board, which extends 3-5 mm (t.) and 2-5 mm (b.) respectively beyond the edges of the original panel. This treatment has made it difficult to establish the techniques employed to construct the panel.

Ground and Imprimatura

A chalk/glue based ground was applied to the support

The original edge of the the pictorial plane haas been retained in the form of a barbe along the top and lower edges (partially concealed by fill material; the left and right edges have been trimmed. The edge of the wooden panel was originally unpainted.

[unpublished conservation report, Maire Müller-Andrae von Butt, 2015]

Condition Reports

Date2015 -

  • the portrait is in rather bad condition

Support:

  • the join in the original panel is open, and may have been the reason for the maroflage. The panel exhibits numerous splits in the direction of the grain.

Paint layers:

  • in some areas the the ground and paint layers have been lost, revealing the bare wood beneath, in total this loss amounts to about 35-40% of the original. Most of the losses were filled and covered by extensive overpaint in the past. The flesh paint has been partially cleaned.

During the recent conservation treatment many of these interventions were reverted, varnish layers and overpaint were thinned, and losses were reintegrated.

[St. Annen-Musuem, revised 2018]

  • examined by Maire Müller-Andrae

Conservation History

Date2015

A comprehensive conservation treatment was carried out on the occasion of the exhibition 'Lübeck 1500 - Kunstmetropole im Ostseeraum'.

[St. Annen-Musuem, revised 2018]

  • conservation treatment by Maire Müller-Andrae

Date1950

About 1950 further conservation treatment

[St. Annen-Museum, inventory sheet 1984]

Date1835 -

  • conservation treatment by Maler Greve

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Portrait of Herrmann Bonnus on his Deathbed', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SAML_NONE-SAML001/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Portrait of Herrmann Bonnus on his Deathbed', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SAML_NONE-SAML001/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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