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Wax portrait in relief of Hieronymus Baumgartner the Younger (1538–1602), Town Councillor in Nuremberg, dated 1597

Matthäus Carl

Exhibited by Kunstkammer Georg Laue

Material Wax on glass plate; fabric; sheet copper; original frame with sliding cover: ebonised cherry and pearwood

Dimensions 17 x 15.5 x 4 cm

Place of Creation Nürnberg

Status Vetted

About the Work

The subject of this exquisitely executed and brilliantly coloured wax portrait in relief is Hieronymus Baumgartner the Younger (1538–1602), a member of the Nuremberg Town Council, surrounded by memento mori attributes: his hand rests on a skull with a sandglass beside it while flowers on the framing pilasters wither. The date numerals 1597 and the monogram MC are inscribed behind the vase standing in the foreground, bottom left. The letters reveal who was responsible for this superb wax sculpture: Matthäus Carl (ca 1560–1609), goldsmith, medallist and wax modeller in Nuremberg.

Born in Augsburg, Matthäus Carl trained as a goldsmith and later moved to Nuremberg, where he was given the freedom of the city in 1584 and attained master craftsman status as a goldsmith and ‘conterfetter in wachs’ [‘portraitist in wax’] in 1585. The majority of surviving works by Matthäus Carl are superb medallions, most of them in silver, with a few in gold. Although Carl is recorded as having worked in wax, the wax portrait studied here is the sole known monogrammed work in wax by this artist. That it is really a work of Matthäus Carl’s is confirmed by a medal with the same portrait in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, which is attributed to Matthäus Carl and, according to the date numerals 1598 was made a year later than the wax relief discussed here.

The wax portrait by Matthäus Carl is featured in the special exhibition ‘Wax. The Beauty of Mankind’ that Kunstkammer Georg Laue will be presenting from 14 to 19 March 2026 at TEFAF Maastricht, stand no. 204.

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Provenance

Switzerland, private collection since the 19th century

Literature

Published in: Georg Laue: Wax. From the Renaissance Kunstkammer to the modern Panopticon, Munich 2026

References: Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst 1541–1868. Vol. I: Meister, Werke, Marken, 2 parts, Nürnberg 2007, p. 80, MZ 117; Kunst des Sammelns. Das Praunsche Kabinett. Meisterwerke von Dürer bis Carracci, exhib. cat. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg 1994, pp. 367–3768; M. Trusted.: German Renaissance Medals: a Catalogue of the Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London 1990, pp. 22–23; G. Bott (ed.): Wenzel Jamnitzer und die Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst 1500–1700, exhib. cat. Germanischens Nationalmuseum in Nürnberg, Munich 1985, p. 155; G. v. Bezold: Der Nürnberger Wachsbossierer Georg Holdermann, in: Mitteilungen aus dem Germanischen Nationalmuseum 1913, pp. 2–14