Lorenz II, 1534

Museum Tucherschloss und Hirsvogelsaal, HI Gm 002
Portrait of Lorenz II. Tucher (1490–1554), Builder of the Tucherschloss, 1534

In 1517 the merchant Lorenz II Tucher (1490-1554) married the merchant’s daughter Katharina Straub (1501-1549). The marriage brought him a considerable dowry, additional inheritances made him the wealthiest in this Nuremberg patrician family. As a visible expression of this wealth, the couple had a medieval farmstead converted into a castle with gardens in the “modern” early Renaissance style – Tucherschloss.

The portrait of the 43-year-old originally formed a marriage diptych with that of his wife (Hl Gm 003). Recesses on one side of each of the original frames testify that the paintings were once connected by hinges and could be opened and closed: at a certain opening angle, the couple turned to each other in their posture and appeared to make eye contact. These kinds of private portraits were not intended as wall decorations; they were kept in chests for posterity. The back or outer sides offered space for the magnificent family coats of arms: the Tucher coat of arms with the "Moor" and the Straub lions.

In 1533 Lorenz had fled with his family from the plague to the Swabian town of Nördlingen. Hans Schäufelein, a former employee of Albrecht Dürer, was active as a city painter here from 1515. The monogram HS and the small shovel clearly identify the marriage diptych, dated 1534, as his work. The portraits, probably painted in Nördlingen, were probably intended for Tucherschloss, which was under construction at the time.

Ulrike Berninger