Marcin Kober

Style: Renaissance;

Place: Wrocław

Biography:

Martin Kober (also Chober, Cober, Coeber, Khober, Koeber, Koebner, Polish: Marcin Kober) (ca. 1550 – before 1598) was a portrait painter and court painter to different Central European monarchs - King Stephen Báthory, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Queen Anna Jagiellon and King Sigismund III Vasa, active mainly in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Kober was the first painter active in the Commonwealth specializing in the official portraiture and is therefore considered as the precursor of this genre in Poland. His portraits of the royal family influenced the royal iconography for the next hundred years and found its source in Spanish portraiture through artistic community in Prague. His earlier works at the court of Stephen Báthory affected development of the Polish Sarmatian portrait.The artist works can be found in different museums across Europe including Orava Gallery in Dolný Kubín (Portrait of Daniel Kubínyiho), Uffizi in Florence (Portrait of Stephen Báthory), Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid (portraits of royal children), Bavarian State Picture Collection (portraits of royal children), Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (Portrait of Sigismund III Vasa) and in Poland with several versions of portrait of widowed Anna Jagiellon, presumably an evidence of well organized workshop. The effigy, with Wawel Castle version considered as original, was painted flat. It is characterized by a strong realism and decorativeness. Versions in the National Museum in Warsaw and in the Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów differ is details with absence or addition of certain parts.