Portrait of a Benedictine Abbot

Jan Polack worked for most of his career in Munich. The evident influence of the late Gothic style of southern Poland suggests that he was born and trained in that area. He is first documented in Bavaria in 1482 and from this point on is frequently mentioned with regard to his professional activities up to the point of his death. It has been suggested that Polak arrived in Munich around 1475 for the wedding of the Duke of Bavaria-Landshut to the daughter of Casimir IV of Poland. The first commission attributed to his name in Munich dates from 1479 and comprises a series of frescoes for the church of Saint Wolfgang in Pipping. In 1488 Polak was appointed official painter to the city of Munich and on a number of occasions between 1485 and his death in 1519 occupied the position of vierer in the painters’ guild.

This panel is a good example of Polak’s skills as a portraitist. Silhouetted against a yellow background, the monk bears the attributes of Saint Benedict, founder of the Order of that name. The face is precisely defined with individualised and realistic features such as the wart at the top of the nose and the very short hair. These characteristics have led art historians to suggest that the painting is a portrait rather than a depiction of Saint Benedict. The monk, located in front of a barely visible ledge that is half-hidden by the folds of his voluminous habit, holds the symbols of that saint: a book with the rules of the Order and a chalice with a serpent. The latter is a common attribute of Saint John the Evangelist but in the case of Saint Benedict refers to the time that he spent in the monastery at Vicovaro: there, various monks attempted to kill him but the poison in the cup turned into a snake that fled and the cup broke when Benedict made the sign of the cross over it.

At the time of the painting’s inclusion in the Royal Academy exhibition in London, David Ekserdjian drew attention to two unusual aspects of the work: the fact that monks were very rarely depicted at this date with the attributes of particular saints; and the striking colour that Polak selected for the background.

Salm suggested that the sitter might be Christoph Schleichere, abbot of the monastery at Weihenstephen where Polak worked between 1483 and 1489. The present panel has significant underdrawing, some of which is visible to the naked eye, for example under the small snake in the chalice, which was originally larger and located further to the left. In fact, this panel was originally destined to be a depiction of the Virgin and Child, as the under-drawing revealed by infra-red reflectography has indicated. The image of the Virgin was positioned in the opposite direction to that of the monk and the lower area of her drapery is clearly visible, with the folds and shadows precisely drawn. The upper part of the Virgin is not visible under infra-red as the paint layers of the monk’s habit are too dense.

Mar Borobia