PAUDISS, Christoph

(b. ~1625 Lower Saxony, d. 1666 Freising)

German painter, pupil of Rembrandt. From his apprenticeship, perhaps in Hamburg, he went on to train in the Netherlands from the late 1640s to the early 1650s. After working in Stuttgart (1656), Prague, Dresden (1659-60), Vienna and Salzburg, he stayed his last four years in Freising where he worked for Fürstbischof Albrecht Sigismund von Bayern. He was married twice.

His paintings and frescoes show dark pictures of everyday life. The Freisinger Diözesanmuseum has the largest collection of his work, others are scattered around Europe.

Portrait of a Young Man in a Fur Hat

The portrait of the young man wearing a Hungarian fur hat was probably executed in Hungary. It shows the influence of Rembrandt.

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Still-Life

German-born Paudiss likely acquired his love of light and ability to depict it in Rembrandt’s studio, where he worked in the early 1640s. His calm light, however, carries no strong symbolic charge and gives his still-lifes, which are devoid of both triviality and deep significance, the charm of pure art.

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Still-Life with Beer, Herring and Pipe

Christoph Paudiss painted mostly portraits and biblical scenes, adopting Rembrandt’s colours, but in his own style, demonstrating his artistic independence. Only a few still-lifes are known by him, painted around 1660-61.

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Tronie of a Young Man

For this tronie, Rembrandt’s works were the principal source of inspiration for Paudiss, even after he had left the Netherlands. Tronies are representations of particular character types, such as soldiers, orientals, old men or young women. Rembrandt and Lievens had developed this particular genre into a trademark with their etchings and paintings of the late 1620s and 1630s.

Characteristic of the present tronie is a reduced colour scheme with predominantly brown and grey tones.

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