Georg Giese

Georg Giese was a Hanseatic merchant painted by Hans Holbein the Younger in his famous series of portraits.

George was a member of the prominent patrician family from Danzing. As a member of the Hanseatic League, Georg ran a family business from the Steelyard (Stalhof) in London during the 1530s. He returned to Danzing in 1535 and married Christine Krüger from a prestigious Danzing family.

The famous portrait painted in 1532 when he was 34 years old, represents him with the paraphernalia of his trade: money, pen, seal, inkpots, balance, boxes, scissors, keys and holding a letter he received from his brother, written in Middle Saxon: “Dem Erszamen/Jorgen gisze to lunden/in engelant mynem/broder to handen” (“To be handed to my brother, the honourable Jorgen gisze at London in England”).

Next to the scale which hangs from the shelf is inscribed his motto: “Nulla sine merore voluptas” or “No pleasure without regret”, implying in a symbolic manner the connection between material wealth and spiritual ideals.