Portrait Christoph von Tiefenbach (ca. 1528-1598)

Portrait Christoph von Tiefenbach. The patron is presented here as an older gentleman as a chest image to the left. His tired looking view is directed towards the viewer. Instead of a wig, it wears short hair and a chin and mustache. His clothes consist of armor. His left hand holding a command staff can be seen. The portrait is oval, the frame with an inscription about the depicted. In addition, the following words were engraved at the top left and right: “VIRTVTE DVCE COMITE FORTVNA,” meaning: With virtue as a leader and happiness as a companion. Under the effigy, outside the plate border, a six-line, Latin saying was added. Christoph von Tiefenbach was the father of Rudolf and Friedrich von Teuffenbach, of whom a leaf is also available at the Händel-Haus Foundation (BS-III 527). From 1546 he studied with his brother Gabriel at the University of Wittenberg. He then traveled and joined the army. During the war in Hungary, he was ordered to Gotha as a colonel in 1567 and soon afterwards was promoted for his merits. In 1580 he was a commanding officer in Hungary and in 1584 he was a city commander of Vienna. As a signature, "Domic. Cust ex."Which usually means that the one who laid the leaf completed it before. In this case, the leaf was executed and laid as copper engraving by the copper engraver and publisher Dominicus Custos (1560-1615) working in Augsburg and Prague. The publication is by Custos: “Atrium Heroicum Caesarum (...),” published in Augsburg in 1600. As a template Custos probably chose a portrait made by the German painter Hans von Aachen (1552-1615), court painter in Prague from 1596 until his death. This can be learned through a leaf that Jan Sadeler has stabbed, it is now in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg, and which is very similar to the present leaf. Other copies of the paper are at the StaatsExemplare zu Berlin, the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg and the Duke Anton Ulrich-Museum in Braunschweig. Signature: Domic. Cust ex. Label: CHRISTOPHORVS LIB. BARO. A. TEVFENBACH. [Medallion] ILLVSTR. AC GENEROS. D. CHRISTOPH. LIB. BAR. A. TEVFENBACH MAIRHOVIAE. SAC. ROM. IMP. MAI.ti A. CONSIL. BELLI. & MILITIAE SVPERIOR. HVNGARIAE PREFECTVS GENERAL.is Hic etiam patriae haud indictus abibit amantum Vocibus, & famae magne erit, atque bonae; Ismarios toties fiItricibus hoftes Compulit in turpem qui dare terga fugam. Ac, seruata tibi loca quot, quot reddita debent Huic bene defuncto Pannona regna DVCI? ADOL. Watermark: available, motif: circle with “W.” Source: Custos, Dominicus: Atrium Heroicum Caesarum (...), Augsburg 1600, after Don Peter. (Stiftung Händel-Haus Halle Foundation)