Portrait of the Silversmith Johann Friedrich Baer
On View In:
Gallery 350
Artist:   Attributed to Johann Daniel Heimlich  
Title:   Portrait of the Silversmith Johann Friedrich Baer  
Date:   c. 1770  
Medium:   Oil on canvas  
Dimensions:   37 1/2 x 30 in. (95.25 x 76.2 cm) (sight) 47 x 39 1/2 in. (119.38 x 100.33 cm) (outer frame)  
Credit Line:   Gift of Achim Neuse and Volker Wurster, in association with the purchase of Baer's Masterpiece Cup and Cover with a gift of funds by Mary Agnes and Al McQuinn  
Location:   Gallery 350  

Johann Friedrich Baer proudly presents his Masterpiece Cup and Cover (on view in the adjacent freestanding case), which he made in 1746 to become a master in the guild of silversmiths of the city of Strasbourg, France. The artist's contemporaries immediately recognized the cup and cover as a masterpiece. Note the laid-back manner in which the painter - who was a friend of Baer - represents the cup without much attention to detail. This contrasts with Baer's masterful rendering of even the most minute details on the cup. Artists were commonly portrayed together with tools of their craft and the most prized work they created (or a model thereof). That being said, it is very rare to have the artist's portrait and his masterpiece together in one collection.

Artist/Creator(s)     
Name:   Heimlich, Johann Daniel  
Nationality:   French  
Life Dates:   French, 1740 - 1796  
 

Object Description  
  
Inscriptions:    
Classification:   Paintings  
Physical Description:   portrait of a balding man wearing a red cap lined in brown fur, red coat with brown fur trim and white shirt with blue tie; silver masterpiece cup on tabletop at right, with silver working mallet and tools under man's hand  
Creation Place:   Europe, France, , ,  
Accession #:   2010.11.2  
Owner:   The Minneapolis Institute of Arts