The New International Encyclopædia/Denner, Balthasar

DEN′NER, Balthasar (1685-1749). A German portrait-painter. He was born at Altona, and studied there and in Danzig, and afterwards at the Berlin Academy. He is said to have painted good portraits when only fourteen years of age. Rapidly acquiring reputation, he was invited to several European courts, and painted the portraits of many princes and other distinguished persons of his time. His chief peculiarity consisted in the fineness of his mechanical finish, which extended to depicting even the almost invisible furze of hair growing on smooth skin. He is particularly noted for his heads of old men and women. Charles VI. paid 4700 florins for a “Head of an Old Woman” by this artist. This and its companion piece, the “Head of an Old Man,” are in the Museum of Fine Arts in Vienna. Specimens of his art are to be found in the principal galleries in Europe.