Portrait of Sigismund of Luxemburg

This is the only surviving portrait painting of Sigismund made during his lifetime. The characteristics and facial features follow the representational canon that had developed in the course of the Emperor’s life: the elongated face, the long hair protruding at each side, the moustache, the long, undulating beard and the fur hat. Since the portrait is of a man of about fifty years old, it must have been painted in the 1420s. Who the artist was, and where he painted it, remain disputed questions. From its style, the three quarters profile, and the parchment medium, it is most likely linked to a French-taught illumination studio which operated in Bohemia in the first fifteen years of the fifteenth century and whose members, following the break-up of the studio, appeared in neighbouring countries, including Hungary. The features of the Emperor’s portrait conveying vitality — particularly the slightly open mouth revealing a glimpse of the teeth — are recurring formulae in the Hungarian court art of the era.