Matthäus Schwarz

Hans Maler zu Schwaz painted this Portrait of Matthäus Schwarz around 1526, depicting the famous Fugger bookkeeper whose own 'Book of Clothes' documented his changing fashions across his lifetime in remarkable illustrated detail. Schwarz commissioned portraits from multiple artists throughout his life as part of his extraordinary project of self-documentation, and Maler's portrait shows the young official at the beginning of this lifelong project of visual self-commemoration. The careful documentation of Schwarz's precise dress and physiognomy reflects both the Fugger bookkeeper's personal obsession with recording his own appearance and Maler's characteristic precision in portrait work. The portrait is part of a tradition of Fugger-family portraiture that created one of the most comprehensive visual records of any mercantile family in the early sixteenth century.

The portrait captures the wealthy accountant with Maler's precise, enamel-like technique. The careful attention to costume details reflects both the artist's skill and the sitter's well-documented interest in his own appearance.