Hans Mädl

The monogram HM and the date 1540 sit in the upper right corner, and beneath them the sitter's age, 41. The painter was Hans Mielich, about 24 at the time and still three years away from joining the Munich painters' guild. His sitter, Hans Mädl, wears a heavy fur collar, and his name is written on the back of the panel with a short blessing, 'the grace of God be with us all'. In his hands he holds a rosary. In 1540 prayer beads marked the old faith. Nuremberg and Augsburg had gone over to the Reformation, while the dukes of Bavaria held their lands to Rome. The portrait later belonged to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, the Habsburg collector whose paintings became a core of the Vienna gallery.