The Story
Col. Michael Friedsam (1860–1931) was an American philanthropist of New York City. Friedsam was the former president of B. Altman and Company and one of the premier art collectors in America at that time.
Created in 1517 during the Renaissance period, this work belongs firmly within the daily life tradition. Hans Maler worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in Oil on Swiss stone pine, measuring 17 x 14 1/8 in. (43.2 x 35.9 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Hans Maler builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
