Barthel Bruyn the Elder, Vanitas

Barthel Bruyn the Elder, Portrait of a Noblewoman, 1530-35. Oil on panel, 45 x 36 cm. Museo Correr, Venice

Barthel Bruyn the Elder, Portrait of a knight, 1531, 62,6 x 46,5 cm. Beschriftung: unter der Bez.: AE 37; auf dem Spruchband: VIVE: MEMOR. LETI. FVGIT. HORA. Provenienz: Slg. Leopold Wilhelm.. Inv.-Nr. GG_868. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie, Wien

Barthel Bruyn the Elder, Vanitas Still-Life, Oil on wood, 61 x 51 cm.. Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo.

Barthel Bruyn the Elder, Skull in a Niche. Oil on canvas, 37 x 30 cm. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Barthel (Bartholomäus) Bruyn the Elder (b. 1493, Cologne, d. 1555, Cologne) was a German painter in Cologne, chiefly of portraits. His religious works are much influenced Netherlandish painters of the late 15th century, and his portraits, which are grimly realistic representations of unaristocratic sitters, are very close to those of Joos van Cleve. In 1515-16 he is documented as a painter of altarpieces, and the Xanten Altar was commissioned in 1529. His career, 1515-55 invites parallels with Holbein and Lucas van Leyden,although a beautiful Nativity of 1516 (Frankfurt) is closer to Geertgen.