Metafory miłości w Portrecie patrycjuszki gdańskiej Antona Möllera
The Metaphors of Love in Anton Möller’s Portrait of a Gdańsk Female Patrician

Summary/Abstract: The Portrait of a Gdańsk Patrician, attributed to Anton Möller the Elder (c. 1563–1611), is still giving rise to discussion, and the identity of the lady portrayed has still not been established. The painting has an interesting iconography, illustrating both the Italian art that inspired it and the metaphors of various aspects of love present within it. The Portrait of a Gdańsk Patrician originally depicted a curtain with two knots, as revealed by IR photography. This iconographic detail has been overlooked by researchers, but it appears in seven portraits of other men, women and children painted by Anton Möller and his workshop and which have survived to this day. The article examines the Portrait, considering the motifs, attributes and clothing used in it. It is thus an introduction to the study of private portrait paintings which was in vogue in Gdańsk under the influence of the 16th century fashion in European painting, drawing on Italian aristocratic portraits of women. As the analysis of the portrait shows, the style of this work shows the influence of Dutch-German painting, while, from the point of view of iconography, it develops the pictorial model drawn from the tradition of Italian painting and graphics (Florence and Venice). This article also attempts to identify the woman portrayed as Maria Judita née Bahr, the wife of Johann Speymann.

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