[UNKNOWN GERMAN ARTIST]. Br: Venus aus Chemnitz 50 Jahre alt 58 24/5 39. 1839. Oil on canvas portrait of Johann Gottlob Venus. Signed by the artist on the lower left corner (signature is illegible), below cryptic dating of work and identifying sitter at 50 years old. Painting is lined in wooden gilt frame. 25 ½ x 20”. Frame: 30 ½ x 24 ¾”. Faint cracking in paint. Some inpainting seen under UV light. At some edges, hat and lower left corner. Not examined out of frame. Painting came with contemporary manuscript legend which was affixed to the rear of the painting; an approximate translation is thus: “Johann Gottlob Venus Tint (color) maker, and junior lawyer attendant at courts in Chemnitz was born May 27, 1788 in Sonnenwalve, in Niederlausitz, in the year of [?]. I received the first mural of the 3 mountains, in the year [?] with the help of the greatest architect in the world. I was given the sum of 100 Talers. But it is my will that the interest of this sum be given annually at Christmas to four poor schoolboys and four poor schoolgirls divided equally among them. May God protect this [painting?] until the end of time. JGV.” The legend on the painting translates roughly to May 24th, 1839.