Paul IV, 1564

Museum Tucherschloss und Hirsvogelsaal, HI Gm 007
Portrait of Paul IV Tucher (1524–1603), 1564

The painting from 1564 shows Linhart’s eldest son, the Nuremberg patrician Paul IV Tucher (1524-1603) at the age of 40. At the age of 14 he was sent to Lyon to complete an apprentice as a merchant, and from 1542 he studied in Wittenberg, where he made the acquaintance of Luther and Melanchthon. In 1547 he was employed in the family business again, but was also able to undertake a trip to Italy (including Rome and Naples). In 1549 he married Ursula Scheurl in Nuremberg and in 1550 he was named a member of his home town’s Great Council. In the same year he was elected to the Inner Council, which he resigned from though at his own request in 1551. Paul already took over the management of the family business during the lifetime of his father Linhart (died 1568).

The portrait is attributed to the Dutch painter Nicolas Neufchatel (c. 1525-c. 1584), who lived in Nuremberg as a Calvinist emigrant from 1561 to 1567 and became the preferred portrait painter of the patrician class. Neufchatel shows Paul Tucher in Spanish court dress, which had become established among the upper classes at the time. The gentleman of a trading house operating throughout Europe presents himself here with a self-assured look, directed at the viewer.

Helge Weingärtner