Portrait Medallion of a Man

Entry

The antecedents of Johan Gregor van der Schardt (1530-after 1581) are anything but clear. According to various sixteenth-century sources, he was born in Nijmegen in the year 1530, possibly as a descendent of Gijsbert Schaert, an architect active in the cities of Nijmegen, Zaltbommel, Xanten and Kranenburg in the late Middle Ages. Drawn by the prospect of an honourable position working as a court artist and perhaps compelled by the impending Reformation, Van der Schardt departed for southern Europe. In the 1560s, he spent a significant amount of time in the Italian cities Bologna, Rome, Mantua and Venice, ultimately entering the service of Emperor Maximilian II in the German city Nuremberg around 1570. As numerous sixteenth-century sources confirm, Van der Schardt acquired considerable fame. Giorgio Vasari, in his Vite of 1568, described Giovanni di Sart di Nimega as a scultore studiosissimo e diligente. Two years earlier, Lodovico Guicciardini wrote of one homme studieux & diligent, Ian de Sart de Nimmeghe, excellent sculpteur.³ In 1587, Gabriel Kaltemarckt of Dresden ranked Johan de Sant von Niemegen among those sculptors whose work no Kunstkammer could be without, naming him as the sole northerner in the same breath with renowned Italian masters such as Donatello, Bandinelli, Daniele da Volterra, Leone Leoni and Jacopo Sansovino.⁴

In Nuremberg, Van der Schardt enjoyed the protection of the wealthy merchant-collector Paulus Praun. The present portrait medallion almost certainly originates from Praun’s collection and was probably one of the sieben unterschiedliche conterfedt von imperatorn und andern, bassa relebo, jedes einer spann hoch cited in the 1616 inventory of the ‘Praunsche Kabinett’.⁵ The seven medallions were still categorized under works of sculpture in the inventory of 1797, described one by one as Ein mannskopff gemahlt, ohne rahm, unfortunately without stating the identity.⁶ There can be little doubt that the man appearing on the present portrait medallion was a highly prominent citizen of Nuremberg. One can firmly rule out any possibility that the Amsterdam medallion concerns Praun himself, as the figure depicted bears no resemblance to that of Van der Schardt’s portrait medallion of Paulus Praun dated 1580 in the Landesmuseum Württemberg (Stuttgart), a work shown beyond all doubt to reflect the appearance of its patron.⁷ Both medallions are highly similar in style, size and material, thus affirming the likelihood that both date from the same period. One possible candidate for the identity of the Amsterdam figure is Marx Antonius Odescalco, as his portrait in three-quarter profile on a medal by the Nuremberg goldsmith Valentin Maler Maler displays many of the same features.⁸ In both cases, he appears approximately the same age, in accordance with the dating of the two portraits. Originating from Como, the Odescali were among the most important Italian merchant families in Nuremberg from about 1520 on.⁹ Additional biographical data for Marx Antonius Odescalco that might support or discredit the proposed identification is unfortunately lacking at this time.

The origins of Van der Schardt’s realistic portraiture, aimed to convey a naturalistic rendition, remain unclear. While the veristic tradition of bestowing a lifelike appearance on sculptures by means of polychromy is known to have existed both in the Netherlands and Germany long before this time, Van der Schardt might very well have come into contact with anti-classical works on an incidental basis while in Italy, with works by the sculptor Guido Mazzoni as a case in point. Up to now, portraits by the sculptor in this style all appear to have been produced during his time spent in the cities of Nuremberg and Copenhagen – in total five busts, including the sculptor’s own self-portrait (BK-2000-17), and six portrait medallions. One may reasonably conclude that, while in Italy, Van der Schardt was likely preoccupied with his other known specialization: bronze sculpture. One tenable source of inspiration for his naturalistic portraits is the Nuremberg tradition of making veristic likenesses in wax. These miniature portraits of local Wachskonterfetter, produced in a pocket-size format, display the same characteristics as Van der Schardt’s polychromed sculptures: individuals portrayed in profile and rendered in realistic colours.

Frits Scholten, 2004 (updated by Bieke van der Mark in 2024)
This entry was originally published in F. Scholten and G. de Werd, Een hogere werkelijkheid: Duitse en Franse beeldhouwkunst 1200-1600 uit het Rijksmuseum Amsterdam/Eine höhere Wirklichkeit, Deutsche und Französische Skulptur 1200-1600 aus dem Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, exh. cat. Cleves (Museum Kurhaus Kleve) 2004-06, no. 33