portrait of Johann Kleeberger

The portrait of Johann Kleeberger is an oil painting executed on a limewood panel measuring 365 cm by 365 cm, created by Albrecht Dürer in 1526. Dürer rendered the sitter in a medallion format reminiscent of classical medals, possibly inspired by Hans Burgkmair’s engravings of Roman medals, giving the work a sculptural, almost bust-like presence. The composition features a circular indentation that cuts off the subject’s neck and shoulders, emphasizing a plastically modeled head that resembles an ancient Roman portrait bust.

Dürer’s handling of light and shadow, the crisp cool gaze, and the pronounced forehead contribute to a sense of timeless authority, while the inscription around the edge records the sitter’s name, age, and a heraldic emblem. The work was signed and dated by the artist and has remained in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna since its acquisition by Emperor Rudolf II in 1588.

Albrecht Dürer painted the portrait of Johann Kleeberger in Nuremberg in 1526, the same year he produced his portraits of Hieronymus Holzschuher and Jakob Muffel. Kleeberger, a wealthy merchant and financier, had returned to Nuremberg that year and commissioned the work from Dürer, possibly after initially requesting a bas-relief in the French Renaissance manner. The artist signed and dated the panel in 1526, inscribing it with the sitter's age of forty.

After Kleeberger's death in 1546, the painting passed to his stepson Willibald Imhof. In 1564, Imhof acquired it in Lyon from David Kleberger, the sitter's son; an Imhoff inventory of 1573/74 valued it at 50 florins because of Dürer's authorship. Emperor Rudolf II purchased the work from the Imhoff heirs in 1588 and had it transferred to Prague.

It survived the 1648 plundering of Prague, was moved to the Vienna Schatzkammer in 1748, and subsequently entered the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

The Portrait of Johann Kleeberger is held in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. It was acquired by the museum's collection after passing through the Imperial treasury (Schatzkammer) in 1748, having previously been part of the Prague collection of Emperor Rudolf II. The work's provenance traces back to the subject's stepson, Willibald Imhof, who purchased it in Lyon in 1564 before selling it to the Emperor in 1588.

While the painting is a permanent fixture of the museum's holdings, sources indicate it became publicly accessible within the Vienna treasury starting in 1748. No specific inventory or accession number is provided in the available documentation.

Art historians regard the portrait as one of Dürer's most original and innovative works, noting its avant-garde qualities that anticipate later artistic movements. The treatment of the bust, rendered with such extreme realism that it resembles a wax sculpture casting a shadow, has been identified as a precursor to Surrealism. Additionally, the subject's distinctive sideburns and classical presentation evoke a neoclassical aesthetic more typical of the nineteenth century than the Renaissance.

The painting's legacy is also defined by its distinguished provenance. Following Kleberger's death, the work passed to his stepson Willibald Imhof before being acquired by Emperor Rudolf II in 1588. After surviving the looting of Prague in 1648, it entered the imperial collections in Vienna, where it has been publicly exhibited since 1748.

Albrecht Dürer’s portrait of Johann Kleberger, executed in oil on a lime‑wood panel in 1526, is held by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The work bears Dürer’s signature and date, confirming its authorship and placing it among his late Nuremberg productions.

The portrait was created in the same year Dürer painted the likenesses of Hieronymus Holzschuher and Jakob Muffel, reflecting a period in which he produced a series of individualized, medal‑style portraits for prominent Nuremberg citizens.