This is a portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg and although the artist is unknown, I suspect that whoever it was had quite a lot of fun with the fur millinery. Let’s face it, there are hats, and then there is this hat which is a magnificent, if slightly ridiculous, statement piece. I like that the museum makes an effort to show the provenance of their artworks, which is also useful given they’ve inevitably got issues trying to resolve Nazi thefts, but this has been located in the gallery since at least 1772.
Sigismund (1368–1437) had one of those lengthy, overly complicated careers as he was King of Hungary, King of the Romans, King of Bohemia and finally Holy Roman Emperor. He’s perhaps best remembered for his role in organising the Council of Constance (1414–1418), which resolved the Western Schism by convincing three rival Popes to step down so a new one could be elected, which seems like the ecclesiastical equivalent of herding cats through treacle.