Portrait of man with a Gold Medal of Lothar von Metternich

The painting from the National Gallery in Prague must have been made as a copy after Geldorp’s painting from the Spanish private collection. That copy may even have been painted after a certain lapse of time from the original - stylistically, it still dates into the first half of the 17th century, though. This lapse of time could explain why in the copy from the National Gallery the medal of Lothar von Metternich, whose award to the represented man may have been the very reason for the portrait, was no longer so important and is hardly legible. The inscription in the left upper corner of Geldorp’s portrait (AN°1609 / GG F / AETATIS 48) had not been transferred to the copy in the same wording. In the Prague painting the inscription had been shortened to A 1609 / Aetat: 48. Above all, the painter’s initials are missing here. We do not know the identity of the portrayed man. Yet the medal of the Elector Lothar von Metternich testifies to a relation between the portrayed and the Elector. Some link to Lothar von Metternich can also be seen in the commission of the portrait from Geldorp Gortzius. It was in fact this painter who portrayed the Elector as early as 1601.