Portrait of Maria Kitscher, Frau von Freyberg, by Hans Mielich, 1545
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Portrait of Maria Kitscher, Frau von Freyberg

Hans Mielich (German, 1516–1573)

1545

Medium
oil on wood
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
Framed: 81 x 62.5 x 8.5 cm (31 7/8 x 24 5/8 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 61.4 x 46 cm (24 3/16 x 18 1/8 in.)
Culture
Germany
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line
The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

Maria von Freyberg was in the court of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria. However, as Lutherans, the family eventually fell from favor as Catholic political interests consolidated power in Bavaria. Mielich’s work for the Munich court included illustrating an inventory of the duchess’s jewelry, seen in the meticulous attention here to the sitter’s brooches, necklaces, and rings. The diamond and ruby ring on her left index finger would have slid apart to reveal a private message or image underneath the gems.