Mitteilungen aus dem germanischen Nationalmuseum. Jahrgang 1896

This 1896 issue of the museum’s scholarly journal invites listeners into a meticulous art‑historical investigation centered on a modest portrait diptych that hangs in the Germanic National Museum’s gallery. The painted pair, bearing the arms of the Straub and Pirkheimer families, dates to 1525 and was long linked to Albrecht Dürer’s workshop, with several well‑known Nuremberg painters proposed as its creators. The article unravels the families’ civic status, marriage alliances, and the symbolic jewelry that ties the sitters to their lineage, setting the scene for a deeper mystery about the work’s authorship.

Moving beyond conventional attributions, the narrative follows a trail of municipal records, council minutes, and guild entries that reveal a previously unknown apprentice named Gorg Schlenck. By contrasting his documented citizenship details with those of the previously suggested artists, the author argues that this forgotten pupil of Dürer likely painted the diptych. The piece not only reshapes a small corner of Renaissance art history but also illuminates why Nuremberg’s painting boom was so fleeting, offering listeners a compelling blend of genealogy, legal intrigue, and scholarly detective work.