Albrecht Dürer (?): Portrait of Sigismund of Luxemburg

The portrait is one version of Dürer’s three-quarters painting of Sigismund as emperor, and was made to order for the Nuremberg City Council. Sigismund favoured this imperial city above all others, bestowing on it many privileges and entrusting to it the safekeeping of the treasures of the empire, which he transferred from Bohemia in 1423. Put on public display in the market square of Nuremberg once annually, the treasures were kept the night before in the “Heiltumskammer” established in one of the houses of the square. From 1513 onwards, Dürer’s painting formed one leaf of the Heiltumskammer’s double doors. The other leaf, also by Dürer, depicted Charlemagne, founder of the empire. Besides their artistic value, the two paintings were later kept in the city hall as portrayals of the city’s prominent political status. Other versions of the paintings may have had a similar political connection, and some were produced by the council’s permission as diplomatic gifts for high-ranking political personages.