Barthel Bruyn (the Elder)
Portrait Diptych of Gerhard and Anna Pilgrum, 1528
 
Bartholomäus (usually called Barthel) Bruyn produced a detail-rich double portrait for the discerning Pilgrums – Gerhard was a vintner and local politician, while Anna came from a family of art-lovers. The pictures could be angled to stand on a surface, or opened out flat to hang on a wall. The man appears on the left-hand wing, which enjoyed the higher rank. The gesture of prayer adopted by the couple also recalls medieval donor portraits. Thus we can easily imagine a devotional cross placed centrally in front of the open diptych.

The perfumed musk pods connected with the rosaries are a sign of cultivation, while their resemblance to apples (they were known as ‘musk apples’) is a reference to Original Sin: behind the ‘mask’ of the couple portrayed in 1528 are concealed Adam and Eve. Gerhard and Anna are also created ‘in His image’; their divinely inspired radiance is emphasized by the notches in the gilded frame. The illumination falling from both sides lifts them out of the rational structure of space and time: while the incident light frames them, their shadows fuse together.

Bartholomäus Bruyn (the Elder)
Wesel(?) 1493 – 1555 Cologne

Portrait Diptych of Gerhard and Anna Pilgrum
1528, oak, each 38 x 30.5 cm in original frames
Acquired in 1885 as a loan from the Kölner Gymnasial- und Stiftungsfonds
Inv. no. WRM Dep. 0014 / 0015
Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln