Ambrosius Volmar Keller

Baldung's portrait of Ambrosius Volmar Keller from 1538 depicts a prominent Strasbourg citizen during the mature period of Baldung's career, when he had been working in Strasbourg for over two decades and was the city's leading painter. Keller was likely a member of the professional or merchant class that provided much of Baldung's portraiture patronage in his Strasbourg years. By 1538, Baldung was navigating the post-Reformation world where religious painting had been severely curtailed by Protestant hostility to sacred images, making portraiture an increasingly important source of income for painters who had previously relied on altarpiece commissions.

The penetrating characterization and precise rendering of the sitter's features and costume demonstrate Baldung's portraiture skills, with the warm flesh tones and dark background creating a vivid personal presence.