Lot 1137 Dα

Balthasar Denner was first taught in his home town of Dresden and later in Danzig, where he was primarily influenced by the art of the nearby Netherlands. He was mainly favoured by North German and Danish patrons including the King of Denmark, the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and the Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. Denner's portraits of elderly women were highly praised and purchased for substantial amounts by his contemporaries. Stylistically, this painting gravitates towards Dutch painting of the 17th century. The depiction of an old woman holding a sack of money and heaping up piles of coins upon a table is based on the allegories of avarice found in prints and painted works north of the Alps in the 16th and 17th centuries.