GUNDELACH, Matthäus - b. ~1566 Hessen, d. 1653 Augsburg

German painter, active in Prague. He was the son of the painter Hans Gundelach. The young Gundelach was in Prague by his mid-twenties where he signed and dated a drawing Minerva and Ceres (1593). It is apparent from the handful of early copies by Gundelach of works by Bartholomäus Spranger that he was a great admirer of the older Antwerp-born master, but he quickly became closely associated with Joseph Heintz, court painter for Emperor Rudolph II. It has been suggested that Gundelach was a pupil of Heintz as he completed at least one work by him, and is recorded as having copied his drawings.

Upon Heintz’s death in 1609, Gundelach took his place as imperial Kammermaler to the Emperor, inherited his studio, married his widow Regina, and acted as guardian to Heintz’s children. He remained in the service of Emperor Matthias ca. 1612-1615, then was employed by the Duke of Württemberg in Stuttgart. He finally settled in Augsburg in 1617.

In Augsburg he executed paintings for the Rathaus and a number of churches in 1622-1623. He was member of Augsburg’s Great Council between 1632and 1649. Designed engravings that were executed by Wolfgang (1581-1662) and Lucas (1579-1637) Kilian. He enjoyed an active and varied career as a painter and designer of prints until his death in 1653.

Gundelach was a painter dedicated to the Rudolfine style as epitomized by Joseph Heintz.

Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity

This work was inspired by a painting of the same subject executed by Joseph Heintz. Through the artistic exchange within the court of Rudolf II, the influence of Italian masters such as Correggio, Tintoretto, Barocci and the sculptor Giambologna, became fused with the legacy of the artists of the northern Renaissance, such as Albrecht D�rer and Pieter Bruegel the Elder. This combination resulted in the unique sensual mannerism of the Prague School in the early decades of the seventeenth century, visible here in Gundelach’s Coronation.