Portrait of Matthäus Schwarz

Breaking away from the usually plain background of German portraits, Amberger here draws upon a compositional structure normally found in Netherlandish painting. He places the sitter in an interior, with a window through which we can see a stormy and mountainous landscape painted in soft blue tones, which become blurred as they recede into the background. The sitter is seated and looks out at the viewer, leaning on the edge of a table. The various objects around him refer to his profession. Matthäus Schwarz was accountant to the Fugger family, Germany’s leading financiers, and was also the author of number of treatises on economics.