Bartholomäus Bruyn (1493–1555), usually called Barthel Bruyn or Barthel Bruyn the Elder, was a German Renaissance painter active in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. He painted altarpieces and portraits, and was Cologne's foremost portrait painter of his day.

Life

He was born in

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighove ...

or Cologne.Oxford Art Online His early works suggest that he received his artistic training in the

Lower Rhine The Lower Rhine (german: Niederrhein; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the river Rhine) flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea at Hook of Holland, Netherlands (including the Nederrijn or "Nether Rhine" within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta); al ...

.Lübbeke 1991, p. 405. His earliest documented altarpiece is a ''Coronation of the Virgin'' (1515–1516) commissioned by Dr. Peter von Clapis, a professor at the University of Cologne. Bruyn’s altarpieces of the 1510s and 1520s are influenced by the style of Jan Joest, to whom Bruyn was related, and often emulate Joest’s habit of illuminating his figures from below. By the time Bruyn painted the Essen altarpiece (1522–1525), he had combined Joest's influence with that of

Joos van Cleve Joos van Cleve (; also Joos van der Beke; c. 1485–1490 – 1540/1541) was a leading painter active in Antwerp from his arrival there around 1511 until his death in 1540 or 1541. Within Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, he combines the tr ...

. In the 1530s, he developed a more Italianate style that reflects the examples of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

and Michelangelo, which he probably knew only at second hand through the engravings of

Marcantonio Raimondi Marcantonio Raimondi, often called simply Marcantonio (c. 1470/82 – c. 1534), was an Italian engraver, known for being the first important printmaker whose body of work consists largely of prints copying paintings. He is therefore a key figu ...

and as filtered through the works of such artists as

Jan van Scorel Jan van Scorel (1 August 1495 – 6 December 1562) was a Dutch painter, who played a leading role in introducing aspects of Italian Renaissance painting into Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting. He was one of the early painters of the Ro ...

and

Martin van Heemskerck Maarten van Heemskerck or ''Marten Jacobsz Heemskerk van Veen'' (1 June 1498 - 1 October 1574) was a Dutch portrait and religious painter, who spent most of his career in Haarlem. He was a pupil of Jan van Scorel, and adopted his teacher's Ital ...

. Bruyn is especially known for his portraits. He was the first important portrait painter in Cologne, and the founder of a prolific school of portraiture that was continued by his sons Arnt and Barthel Bruyn the Younger. His subjects are usually portrayed at half-length against a flat background; the face is the center of attention, but costume details are crisply described, and prominence is given to the hands. Art historian Jean M. Caswell says Bruyn's depictions of the upper-middle-class citizens of Cologne are "lively and expressive, and they show no vain flattery". Bruyn did not sign his portraits, and some of them have in the past been misattributed to Hans Holbein, whose influence is apparent in Bruyn's works after 1539. Barthel Bruyn was a respected citizen of Cologne and active throughout his life in civic affairs. He was elected to the City Council in 1549 and 1553, and died a wealthy man. His works are in numerous public collections, including the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

, London; the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York; and the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

in Paris. The

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

owns a ''Nativity'' and two portraits by Bruyn.

Gallery

File:Bartholomäus Bruyn d. Ä. 011.jpg, ''Portrait of a Young Man with Gloves'', oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna File:BruynAltar04.jpg, Altarpiece, Church of St. John the Baptist, Essen File:Bartholomäus Bruyn d. Ä. 012.jpg, ''Portrait of a Knight'', 1531, oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna File:Bruyn Anne of Cleves.jpg, ''Anne of Cleves'', ca. 1540s File:Portrait of a man by B. Bruyn (Mikhail Perchenko's collection).jpg, ''Portrait of an academic'', Mikhail Perchenko collection File:Elisabeth Bellinghausen and Jacob Omphalius.jpg, ''Elisabeth Bellinghausen'' and ''Jacob Omphalius'', ca. 1538, Mauritshuis, The Hague. Elisabeth is holding a branch of bittersweet, symbol for fiancees. File:Bartholomäus Bruyn (I) - The Nativity (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum).jpg, ''Nativity'', ca. 1520,

, Madrid.

References and sources

;References ;Sources *Lübbeke, Isolde. 1991. ''Early German painting 1350-1550: The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection''. London: Philip Wilson. * Murray, Peter, and Linda Murray. 1997. ''The Penguin dictionary of art and artists''. London, England: Penguin Books. *Oxford Art Online: "Bartholomäus Bruyn" {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruyn, Barthel, The Elder 1493 births 1555 deaths 16th-century German painters German male painters German portrait painters German Renaissance painters Artists from Cologne German city councillors