4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2023.

Images(2)

Portrait of Erhard Weigel

Artist Pietro della Vecchia (Italian, 1603-1678)

CultureItalian

Date1649

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 36 3/8 x 31 5/8 in. (92.4 x 80.3 cm)
Overall, Frame: 45 1/2 x 40 3/4 in. (115.6 x 103.5 cm)

InscribedSigned front lower right: "PETRUS VECHIA PIC / 1649"

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.614

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 204

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas waist-length portrait of Erhard Weigel. The young man, looking directly at the viewer, is seated at a table holding a large tablet with five columns of words. His hair, mustache and small goatee are all brown; his mustache is large and curved. He wears a dark tunic with a mauve sash. His left hand holds a compass and balances the tablet. His right index finger points to the fourth column of words on the tablet. The background is gray and featureless.

Label TextPietro della Vecchia Italian, 1603-1678 Portrait of Erhard Weigel, 1649 Oil on canvas Who is Erhard Weigel? His portrait makes his personality clear. He props up a document, identified by its title as “a cabalistic or analogic chart,” which features five types of knowledge: contemporary philosophy, scientific thought, number theory, ancient magic, and the occult. Above a motto that reads “Wisdom is Truth,” Weigel holds a compass, demonstrating his goal: to create a system that unifies the rational and irrational, thereby revealing universal truth. The celebrated mathematician served as an advisor to the court of Duke William of Saxony-Weimar, where he shared this encyclopedic worldview. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.614 ProvenanceMr. H. Bendixson; collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"German Art, 1650-1800," Darmstadt, 1941. (Exhib. cat. no. 462). "Exhibition of Italian Art of the 17th Century," Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1925. (Exhib. cat. plate 1). "La Pittura del Seicento a Venezia," Venice, 27 Guigno - 25 Ottobre, 1959. (Exhib. cat. no. 100). "A Loan Exhibition of Venetian Baroque Paintings," Finch College Museum of Art, New York, NY, 1964. (Exhib. cat. no. 22). "Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Norfolk, VA, 1968. (Exhib. cat. no. 32). "Baroque Portraiture in Italy: Works from North American Collections," The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL, Dec. 7, 1984 - Feb. 3, 1985; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, March 20 - May 20, 1985. (Exhib. cat. no. 47, p. 136). Published ReferencesExhibition catalogue. LA PITTURA DEL SEICENTO A VENEZIA. Ca' Pesaro, Venice. 1959. No.100. Robert L. Manning. _Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Norfolk: Norfolk Museum of Arts and Science. 1967. No. 32. Bernard Aikema. "Pietro della Vecchia, a Profile." _Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell'Arte_. 14. 1984:pp. 92, 192, pl. 47. John T. Spike. _Baroque Portraiture in Italy: Works from North American Collections_. Sarasota, FL: The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. 1984:p. 136, no. 47. John T. Spike. "'The Impassioned Soul': Baroque Portraiture in Italy." _Apollo_. 04/1985:p. 267, no. 5. Wendy Wassyng Roworth. "Hartford, Connecticut: Baroque Portraiture." _The Burlington Magazine_. 06/1985:p. 406. Bernard Aikema. _Pietro della Vecchia and the Heritage of the Renaissance in Venice_. Florence: Istituto Universitario Olandese di Storia dell'arte. 1990:pp. 28, 63-65, 85, 116-117. Illustrated no. 56. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, No. 29, p. 37; color ill. p. 37. Martin Mulsow, Prekäres Wissen: Eine andere Ideengeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit (Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2012) plate VI. Stéphane Castelluccio, _Chaises et tables volantes au XVIIIe siècle_ (Arles: Éditions Honoré Clair with Château de Versailles, 2023) 12, fig. 1.