1600–1700

The painting by an anonymous artist is one of the few surviving full-length portraits from the mid-17th century in the Slovene lands. The image of the twenty-seven-year-old Count Johann Herward Lamberg comes from the collection in Cekin Mansion (Leopoldsruhe), which Leopold Count Lamberg built between 1752 and 1755. The picture was kept in a room with 23 other portraits of the Lamberg family, constituting the ancestral portrait gallery. When Cekin Mansion and its belongings were sold in 1865, the portrait of Johann Herward, along with some other portraits of the Lambergs, was purchased by Edvard Knight Strahl for his collection in Stara Loka Castle. When Strahl's collection was sold in 1930, the painting was purchased by the National Museum, and before 1947 it was transferred to the National Gallery.
The young Count is depicted in fashionable clothing consisting of a yellow waistcoat and wide red trousers reaching to the knees and emphasized with lace decoration. He is wearing leather boots with wide flaps, and his black hat with a red bow is on the table which is covered with a heavy tablecloth. The dignified image of the nobleman is enhanced by a big dog with the monogram G. H. on its collar. Dogs are frequent companions in portraits of nobles. They were used mainly for hunting, which was a popular pastime of the nobility. As a status symbol, they indicate the owner's distinction, and personify loyalty.


Provenance: Ljubljana, Cekin Mansion (Leopoldsruhe); Stara Loka, Collection of Edvard and Karl Strahl, 1866; 

inscription: I.H.C.A.L.D.I.S.E.R / AETATIS SVAE. 27: / 1.6.4.8.; on the dog’s collar: monogram G. H.