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Michael Sittow ( 1469 – 1525), also known as Master Michiel, Michel Sittow, Michiel, Miguel and many other variants, was a painter from Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia) who was trained in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. For most of his life, Sittow worked as a court portrait painter, for Isabella of Castille, the Habsburgs and others in Spain and the Netherlands. He was one of the most important Flemish painters of the era. == Life == Michael Sittow was born in 1468 or 1469 in Reval to a wealthy family. His father was painter and wood-carver Clawes (Claves, Claes) van der Sittow (Suttow) and his mother was Margarethe Molner. He was the eldest of three brothers, followed by Clawes and Jasper. The origins of Clawes van der Sittow (? - 1482) are not clear - he might have originated from the village of Zittow near Wismar or he could have been of Flemish origin. He arrived in Reval in 1454 and became a citizen in 1457. Clawes was a wealthy man for an artist, owning several houses in the city. He became an assessor in the artists' guild in 1479.〔 Clawes van der Sittow married Margarethe Molner (? - 1501) in 1468. She was a Swedish-speaking Finn and the daughter of a wealthy merchant Olef Mölner (Olef Andersson Mölnare). At first Michel Sittow studied painting and sculpture in his father's workshop, while attending the city school to learn Latin, arithmetic and singing.〔 After his father's death in 1482, Michel continued his studies in Bruges from 1484 to 1488. It is thought that he worked as an apprentice in the leading Netherlandish workshop of Hans Memling.〔 Michel Sittow became an independent master between 14881491/92, although he did not become a master in the local Bruges guild. Working as a portrait painter, he travelled in southern Europe, as traits of French and Italian art became apparent in his work.〔〔 From 1492 Sittow worked in Toledo, Spain for Isabella of Castille as court painter. Isabella assembled academicians and painters from several countries to her court. Sittow became known as Melchior Alemán ("the German") in the court, although letters of Emperor Maximilian and Margaret of Austria speak also of a painter "Mychel Flamenco" ("Michael the Fleming"), who may have been Michael Sittow.〔 Sittow was the highest-paid painter in the queen's court, receiving a salary of 50,000 maravedis a year (Juan de Flandes, the second highest paid artist, received 20,000 maravedis).〔 Sittow collaborated with Juan de Flandes on the series of small panels of the lives of Christ and the Virgin for the queen.〔 Officially Sittow worked for Isabella until her death in 1504, although he had left Spain two years before and was presumably working in Flanders for the queen's Habsburg son-in-law Philip the Handsome,〔 painting a portrait of Philibert the Good, Duke of Savoy. Sittow probably visited London in about 1503–05, although this is not documented. He used to be regarded as the author of the portrait of Henry VII (National Portrait Gallery, London), later used as a model by Hans Holbein and other painters when crafting their posthumous depictions of the monarch,〔〔 but this is now "discounted" by specialists. If a portrait in Vienna is indeed of Isabella's daughter Catherine of Aragon, already widowed by the death of Henry's heir Arthur, Prince of Wales and soon to remarry his brother, later Henry VIII, this would have been painted on this visit. Two other Sittow paintings of Mary Magdalen (Detroit) and the Virgin Mary (Berlin) appear to use the same model, who may also be a younger Catherine, before she left for England. The use of members of royal households as models for sacred figures is found in court art in the Netherlands at this time; however that the three paintings show the same person, and that Catherine is the model for any of them, is not certain, partly because there are no other good portraits of her when young. The Berlin Virgin formed the other half of a diptych with the Washington portrait of Diego de Guevara, a Spanish courtier with the Habsburgs, otherwise best known for giving the Arnolfini Portrait to Archduchess Margaret of Austria, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. When Philip died in 1506, Sittow lost his patron again. In the same year, he returned to Reval where his stepfather, the glass-maker Diderick van Katwijk had seized his parents' houses, as Michael's mother had died in 1501. Van Katwijk had journeyed to Brabant in 1501 and offered a property settlement to Sittow that the latter refused.〔 As the local court did not support Sittow's claim for inheritance, he had to go to the Court of Higher Instance in Lübeck. He won the case in Lübeck, but could not officially register his parents' houses as his property until the death of his stepfather in 1518.〔〔 Michael Sittow joined the Guild of Kanut ((ドイツ語:Kanutigilde), (エストニア語:Kanuti gild)), the local painters' guild in 1507 and married in 1508. Despite being a renowned master in Europe, Sittow was accepted only as a journeyman and was required to paint a masterpiece before becoming a full master craftsman in the guild.〔 Sittow completed various local orders and worked for the St. Peter's Church in Siuntio, Finland.〔 In 1514 he was called to visit Copenhagen, to paint the portrait of Christian II of Denmark. The portrait was intended as a gift for Christian's bethrothed, Isabella of Austria, granddaughter of Isabella of Castille. The portrait that is held in Copenhagen's Statens Museum for Kunst is probably a copy of a lost original or a second copy ordered from Sittow. From there he traveled to the Southern Netherlands where he served Margaret of Austria, the Habsburg vice-regent of the Netherlands.〔〔Martha Woolf, ''Michel Sittow'', Grove Art Online, accessed 31 January 2008〕 From the Netherlands, Sittow returned to Spain and worked for Ferdinand II of Aragon, followed in 1516 by the Spanish King Carlos I, the future Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. When Charles V abdicated from power he took Sittow's wooden sculpture of the Virgin and three paintings with him to his retirement in the monastery of Yuste.〔〔〔 It is possible that Sittow travelled to Spain in an attempt to recover an unpaid salary from queen Isabel of Castille.〔 In 1516 (possibly 1517 or 1518) Michael Sittow returned to Reval.〔 In 1518, he married Dorothie, a daughter of a merchant named Allunsze. Their son Michel died shortly after birth. In 1523, Sittow became the Aldermann (guild-master) of the Guild of Kanut.〔 Michael Sittow died of the plague in Reval between 20 December 1525 and 20 January 1526.〔 He is buried in the cemetery of the almshouse of the Church of the Holy Spirit ((エストニア語:Pühavaimu kirik)). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Michael Sittow」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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