MALE NARRATOR:
George Pencz, a German painter and printmaker, probably made this picture for a private patron who savored its spectacular beauty and eroticism.
The sleeping woman is presented completely naked—the translucent yellow cloth across her thigh only emphasizes her nudity. She rests against a pillow whose loose stitching suggestively underscores the erotic nature of the scene. The vantage point is that of someone standing right next to her—presumably a lover, who has just risen from the bedside.
Contemporary viewers would have readily understood this young woman as a courtesan. Prostitution was legal in 16th-century German cities, and the color yellow was often used to publicly identify women of the trade. Reclining figures, even fully clothed, were associated with moral laxity, and pillows were common references to luxury and sloth.
In the shallow niche behind the woman are a candle snuffer and a recently- extinguished candle—traditional vanitas motifs that remind the viewer that life on this earth is short. These moralizing overtones, as well as the figure’s cool colors and crisp definition, are distinctly Northern. They set the painting apart from the luscious renditions of reclining nudes by the celebrated Venetian masters Giorgione and Titian, whom Pencz much admired.
In Nuremberg, Pencz had been a student of Albrecht Dürer. In 1532, he was appointed the city’s official painter.
A Sleeping Woman (Vanitas)
1544
Georg Pencz (German, c.1500-1550)
On View
George Pencz worked in Albrecht Dürer’s atelier. Like his master, he visited Italy and was profoundly influenced by Venetian art. This painting was meant to be a collector’s cabinet piece or bedroom hanging. Pencz has drawn freely from the Venetian examples of Giorgione and his followers, and the painting’s main interest is undoubtedly erotic.
The exactitude and distinctness with which the body is rendered, however, is typically Northern. Equally Northern are the crisply defined still life elements in the niche, meant to embroider this secular subject with moral references and narrative potential. The seductive sleeping nude associated with moral failure, and the just-extinguished candle, indicative of time passing, suggest the theme of “vanitas.” Pencz has dated his painting on the wall at left and inscribed his initials on the candle snuffer in the niche.
Details
- Artist Name: Georg Pencz (German, c.1500-1550)
- Title: A Sleeping Woman (Vanitas)
- Date: 1544
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 37 x 69 in. (94.0 x 175.3 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation, Gift of Mr. Norton Simon
- Accession Number: F.1982.2.1.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Private collection, southern France (Richard Goetz?).
Christophe Bernoulli, Basle, to;
[Kate Perls, Paris, 1936, by descent to];
[(Klaus) Perls Gallery, New York, consigned 28 December 1945 to];
[Schaeffer Galleries, New York, stock no. 1074, returned April 1951 to];
[Perls Gallery, New York].
Anonymous (sale, London, Sotheby’s, 22 June 1960, lot 57, sold to);
Johnson.
Bernoulli, sold for $2,000 Feburary 1969 to;
[Schaeffer Galleries, New York and Perls Gallery, New York, stock no. 2586, 29 May 1973 to];
Norton Simon, Malibu, gift 1982 to;
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Christophe Bernoulli, Basle, to;
[Kate Perls, Paris, 1936, by descent to];
[(Klaus) Perls Gallery, New York, consigned 28 December 1945 to];
[Schaeffer Galleries, New York, stock no. 1074, returned April 1951 to];
[Perls Gallery, New York].
Anonymous (sale, London, Sotheby’s, 22 June 1960, lot 57, sold to);
Johnson.
Bernoulli, sold for $2,000 Feburary 1969 to;
[Schaeffer Galleries, New York and Perls Gallery, New York, stock no. 2586, 29 May 1973 to];
Norton Simon, Malibu, gift 1982 to;
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Classics of the Nude: Loan Exhibition, Pollaiuolo to Picasso, for the Benefit of the Lisa Day Nursery
- New York, M. Knoedler & Co., 1939-04-10 to 1939-04-29
- Norton Simon Museum, Selected Paintings at the Norton Simon Museum,1980, p. 37
- Lane, James W., Apollo,no. 174 pp. 298-299
- M. Knoedler & Co., Classics of the Nude,no. 8
- Upjohn, E. M., Art in America, pp. 133-134
- Nuremburg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Aufgang der Neruzeit: Deutsche Kunst und Kultur von Dürers Tod bis zum Dreissigjährigen Kriege, 1530-1650,no. 9
- Baldass, Ludwig von, Pantheon, p. 254
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 936 p. 353
- Gmelin, Hans Georg, Müncher Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst,no. 24, fig. 38 pp. 66-67, 86-87, 89
- Wescher, Paul, Pantheon, pp. 34, 280-281
- Osten, Gerst von; and Horst Vey, Painting and Sculpture in Germany and the Netherlands, 1500-1600,n. 5 pp. 234, 281, 362
- Frankfurter, Alfred M., Art News, p. 11
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum,1989, p. 34
- Bruening, Margaret, Magazine of Art, p. 298
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