Portrait of a Man

Martin Schaffner · c. 1525

Medium

Oil on parchment, mounted on panel

Original size

33 × 26.2 cm (13 × 10 3/8 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Italian Renaissance

Martin Schaffner's *Portrait of a Man* holds the quiet authority that defines the best of German Renaissance portraiture — a face rendered with such precision that the sitter seems to occupy a moment suspended just short of speech. Schaffner worked in Ulm during the early sixteenth century, a city then thriving as a centre of trade and craftsmanship, and his portraits reflect both the civic confidence of his patrons and the meticulous Northern European tradition of close observation. What sets this particular work apart is its unusual support: oil paint applied to parchment, which was then mounted on panel — a choice that lends the surface a fine, almost porcelain quality quite different from canvas or bare wood. His handling of light across the sitter's face and collar shows a painter deeply attuned to Flemish influence while remaining distinctly his own. Schaffner was a prominent figure in Ulm's painters' guild and received commissions for both altarpieces and secular portraiture throughout his long career, making him one of the better-documented regional masters of the period. Our hand-painted oil reproduction faithfully follows Schaffner's tonal restraint and fine detail, delivering the same quiet presence of the original to any wall it meets.