Portrait of a Man with a Red Hat, possibly Eitel Friedrich II von Hohenzollern (1452-1512)

The portrait

The recently surfaced Portrait of a Man with a Red Hat is a magnificent example of Northern renaissance portraiture. Depicted against a deep black background is a man wearing a high bright red hat and a blue cloak over a white chemise. In the red hat several pentimenti are visible – an earlier rendering of the hat was somewhat smaller – neatly revealing the creative process. Our sitter is clearly a man of stature, probably around thirty years old. His face is finely modelled, showing a subtle variety of pink tones for the incarnate and arresting care for detail around the eyelids. The sitter’s gaze, serious and fierce, is directed at the beholder. With his right index finger he points to his left hand, in which he holds a paper scroll. The painting’s execution is exceptional, striking a neat balance between refined detail and monumental grandeur.

The recent restoration of our male portrait has revealed a woman’s original hand on our sitter’s shoulder. One can even see the remains of the precious red stone that once adorned the ring on her index finger, and the remains of the ring around her thumb. This discovery proves unequivocally that the present portrait and the Portrait of a Young Woman formerly in the Kisters Collection once formed one painting, and that they were separated at a certain moment in time.

Among the highest nobility in Swabia we find a candidate with a neatly fitting profile – both physical and social: count Eitel Friedrich II von Hohenzollern (1452-1512). He married Magdalene of Brandenburg (1460-1496) in Berlin on 17 June 1482. Their marriage aligns perfectly with the presumed age of our sitter (about thirty), with the age of the bride (around twenty-two), with the dating of the panel, which was ready for use in 1481, and with the imagery of the double portrait, which clearly alludes to the bond between the sitters.