Bartholomäus Bruyn (1493–1555), usually called Barthel Bruyn or Barthel Bruyn the Elder, was a

German Renaissance The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance. Many areas of the arts and sciences ...

painter active in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. 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, in western Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel (district), Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel i ...

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

Lower Rhine Lower Rhine (, ; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Bonn in Germany and the North Sea at Hook of Holland in the Netherlands, including the '' Nederrijn'' () within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta; alternat ...

.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 Jan Joest, also known as Jan Joest van Kalkar or Jan Joest van Calcar (between 1450 and 1460 – 1519), was a Dutch painter from either Kalkar or Wesel (both now in Germany), known for his religious paintings. Biography Jan Joest was practi ...

, to whom Bruyn was related, and often emulate Joest’s habit of illuminating his figures from below. By the time Bruyn painted the

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

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 (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

and

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

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

Marcantonio Raimondi Marcantonio Raimondi, often called simply Marcantonio ( – ), 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 figure in the rise of ...

and as filtered through the works of such artists as Jan van Scorel and Martin van Heemskerck. 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 more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

, London; the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

in New York; and the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

in Paris. The

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (, ; named after its founder, Baron Heinrich Thyssen, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Museo del Prado, Prado Museum on one of the city ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

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 The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien ( "Vienna Museum of art history, Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, i ...

, Vienna File:BruynAltar04.jpg, Altarpiece, Church of St. John the Baptist,

File:Bartholomäus Bruyn (I) - Portret van een ridder - GG 868 - Kunsthistorisches Museum.jpg, ''Portrait of a Knight'', 1531, oil on wood,

, 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 Mauritshuis (, ; ) is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The collection contains works by Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van ...

, 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. File:Anne of Cleves as a middle-aged woman by Bartholomaeus Bruyn the Elder.jpg, Suggested to be either a portrait of an aged

Anne of Cleves Anne of Cleves (; 28 June or 22 September 1515 – 16 July 1557) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the Wives of Henry VIII, fourth wife of Henry VIII. Little is known about Anne before 1527, ...

or of her sister,

Amalia of Cleves Amalia of Cleves (; 17 October 1517 – 1 March 1586; sometimes spelled as Amelia) was a princess of the House of La Marck. The fourth and youngest child of John III, Duke of Cleves, and his wife Maria of Jülich-Berg, Amalia was born shortly ...

. File:Bartholomäus_Bruyn_d._Ä._-_Beweinungsaltar.jpg, Lamentation of Christ, Alte Pinakothek

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 Painters from Cologne German city councillors