Artwork
Portrait of a Man and His Three Sons

Portrait of a Man and His Three Sons is an oil painting by the Northern Renaissance artist Bartholomaeus Bruyn the Elder. It dates from 1540 and is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum.
About this work
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting executed on canvas, measuring 75.5 cm by 46 cm, and was created in Germany in 1540. It depicts a man with his three sons and is classified as a portrait. The painting was later owned by Johann Karl Philipp von Cobenzl before entering the collection of the Hermitage Museum.
History & Provenance
The painting entered the collection of Johann Karl Philipp von Cobenzl before being acquired by the Hermitage Museum, where it remains on display.
Bartholomaeus Bruyn the Elder painted Portrait of a Man and His Three Sons in 1540 as an oil on canvas work. The painting entered the collection of Johann Karl Philipp von Cobenzl before being acquired by the Hermitage Museum, where it remains on display. Its dimensions measure 75.5 cm in height and 46 cm in width, and it is classified as a portrait genre piece depicting a father with his three sons.
Portrait of a Man and His Three Sons is held at the Hermitage Museum. Its inventory number is not specified in the provided sources. The work was owned by Johann Karl Philipp von Cobenzl before entering the Hermitage collection.
It has been exhibited in multiple Hermitage displays focusing on Northern Renaissance portraiture. The painting measures 75.5 cm in height and 46 cm in width.
Overview
Bartholomaeus Bruyn the Elder, a prominent Cologne portraitist of the German Renaissance, executed this oil painting in 1540. The work portrays a father accompanied by his three sons, rendered in the characteristic clarity of Northern Renaissance portraiture. It is part of the State Hermitage Museum’s collection.
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on a solemn adult male in a dark robe with a white collar, positioned behind three boys dressed alike in red garments. The children’s serious expressions and the father’s hand resting on the leftmost son suggest a familial bond and the importance of lineage within a mid‑sixteenth‑century context.
Artist & collection
Artist
Bartholomäus Bruyn (1493–1555), usually called Barthel Bruyn or Barthel Bruyn the Elder, was a German Renaissance painter active in Cologne. He painted altarpieces and portraits, and was Cologne's foremost portrait painter of his day.
















