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Lot Essay
Ostendorfer is first recorded in 1520 as a master and citizen of Regensburg, at about which time he produced his earliest surviving work, which reveals his close debt to Albrecht Altdorfer, who clearly exercised a strong influence on him from the beginning and who may have trained him. In 1536 Ostendorfer moved to Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate, where three years later he was mentioned as court painter to Count Frederick II of the Palatinate (1482-1556); by 1544 he had moved on to Amberg and by 1549 was back in Regensburg, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Ostendorfer's known oeuvre comprises woodcuts, a handful of drawings and nearly forty paintings, including a number of small panels painted for private patrons, such as the Lucretia of 1530 in the Stadtmuseum, Regensburg. The present composition is another such painting, and was repeated by the artist, including two earlier versions in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, and the Wallraf-Richartsz-Museum, Cologne, both dated 1530, and that also signed and dated 1540 sold, Koller, Zurich, 15 September 1994, lot 2 (lacking the trompe-l'oeil ledge at the lower edge). Ostendorfer's debt to Altdorfer remains evident in the composition, particularly in the landscape elements, but in addition the influence of Lucas Cranach by this date is readily apparent in the representation of Judith, as well as the choice of theme itself.
We are grateful to Mr. Ludwig Meyer for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Ostendorfer's known oeuvre comprises woodcuts, a handful of drawings and nearly forty paintings, including a number of small panels painted for private patrons, such as the Lucretia of 1530 in the Stadtmuseum, Regensburg. The present composition is another such painting, and was repeated by the artist, including two earlier versions in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, and the Wallraf-Richartsz-Museum, Cologne, both dated 1530, and that also signed and dated 1540 sold, Koller, Zurich, 15 September 1994, lot 2 (lacking the trompe-l'oeil ledge at the lower edge). Ostendorfer's debt to Altdorfer remains evident in the composition, particularly in the landscape elements, but in addition the influence of Lucas Cranach by this date is readily apparent in the representation of Judith, as well as the choice of theme itself.
We are grateful to Mr. Ludwig Meyer for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.