Dürer’s 1526 portrait depicts Jakob Muffel, the mayor of Nuremberg, while Holbein’s 1533 work portrays Hermann Hillebrandt de Wedigh, a member of a prominent merchant family from Cologne. Both paintings are on loan from the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.
Professor Andrzej Betlej, director of Wawel Royal Castle, described the exhibition as a “unique event”, noting that this is the first time a painting by Dürer has ever been shown in Poland. He added that Wawel provides a fitting setting for the display, reflecting “the connection between these Northern Renaissance masters and the Renaissance residence of Polish kings.”
“Wawel Castle is the most appropriate place to show the works of Dürer and Holbein,” Betlej said.
Portrait of Jakob Muffel by Albrecht Dürer (photo: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski)
Exhibition curator Dr Joanna Winiewicz-Wolska commented during the opening: “Looking at the faces of Jakob Muffel and Hermann Hillebrandt de Wedigh, one has the impression of meeting them here and now, in the rooms of King Sigismund the Old’s Renaissance palace. Who knows - perhaps they were among the guests at the Jagiellonian court during its time of greatest splendour.”
Renaissance portraits on show in Kraków
The exhibition runs until 1 February 2026. The opening coincided with the announcement that Wawel Castle had welcomed more than three million visitors in the first ten months of the year. With last year’s total reaching 3.1 million, the management expects 2025 to set a new record for attendance.
Wawel Castle is the former residence of Polish monarchs and the symbol of Polish statehood.
(photo: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski)
Read more about this topic:
(mk/mp)