# Margarethe Vöhlin \[obverse\] **Bernhard Strigel** (German, 1460/1461–1528) 1527 oil on panel overall (visible surface, greatest height): 43 × 30 cm (16 15/16 × 11 13/16 in.) framed: 50.01 × 37.62 × 5.08 cm (19 11/16 × 14 13/16 × 2 in.) Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1947.6.5.a. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.33755.html). ## About this work Margarethe Vöhlin sits half-length in a high-necked dress of white, black and gold, a long gold chain falling to her waist and two jewelled rings on one finger of her folded hands. Her blond hair is gathered into a gold cap beneath a broad black hat. Behind her, a red wall hanging patterned with pink flowers gives way at the right to a view of a bridge, a town, a leaping dog and blue mountains across a lake. Bernhard Strigel, a favoured portraitist of Emperor Maximilian I, painted her in 1527 as one of a pair with Hans Roth; the backs of both panels carry coats of arms. _Written by Ochre Editions._ Bernhard Strigel painted this in 1527, aged 67. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. ### What you’re looking at Shown from the waist up, a light-skinned woman sits angled slightly to our right in this vertical portrait painting. The woman has blue eyes, faint brows, and a sloping nose ending in a small bulb. Her upper lip is thin and her lower lip full over a slight double chin. Her blond hair is pulled back under a gold, cap-like headdress and a black, wide-brimmed hat with a shallow crown. She wears a high-necked white, black, and gold dress with intricate detailing, a gold chain necklace that falls to her waist, and a black belt with a gold clasp and medallions. She wears two gold rings set with gems on the pointer finger of her left hand, which is folded across her belly over the other hand. A scarlet-red wallcovering with pink floral designs fills two-thirds of the space behind her. The rightmost third of the background opens onto a landscape with a tall, spindly tree, a leaping animal, presumably a dog, and a bridge across a body of water leading to a town. Across another body of water, perhaps a lake, mountains are marine blue in the distance under a clear, celestial-blue sky. _Description from the National Gallery of Art._ ### How it was made - **Oil on panel.** Oil paint on prepared wooden boards, usually oak in the north and poplar in Italy. The rigid, smooth surface suits fine detail and thin, glowing glazes. - **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled. ### [Bernhard Strigel](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/bernhard-strigel) German, 1460/1461–1528 Strigel came from a family of painters in Memmingen in Swabia, where he worked for most of his life. He became a favoured portraitist of Emperor Maximilian I, painting the emperor and his family, including a well-known group portrait of Maximilian with his wife, son and grandsons. He also painted altarpieces in a late Gothic manner with lively colour. His late portraits of the couple Hans Roth and Margarethe Vöhlin show his attention to individual character. _Written by Ochre Editions._ ## Facts - Type: Painting - The artist was 67 - Real size: about 17 × 12 in (43 × 30 cm). The 12 × 16 in print is close to life size. - Century: 16th century - Subjects: female, Vohlin, Margarethe - Colour: red - Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose. ## Get it - Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1486.jpg?dl=1 - Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1486/1920.jpg - Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86 - Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208 - Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118 - Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5 Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/margarethe-vohlin-obverse-nga-33755).