Christ as the Man of Sorrows

Christ as the Man of Sorrows

Title

Christ as the Man of Sorrows

[Exhib. Cat. Bremen 2009, No. 23]

Painting on beech wood

Medium

Painting on beech wood

[Klein, Report 2003]
[Exhib. Cat. Bremen 2009, No. 23]

The panel depicts a half-length figure of the Man of Sorrows against a dark background. Christ looks directly at the viewer and inclines his head to one side while he presents his wounds. Christ wears a crown of thorns and holds a bunch of rods used for scourging in his

The panel depicts a half-length figure of the Man of Sorrows against a dark background. Christ looks directly at the viewer and inclines his head to one side while he presents his wounds. Christ wears a crown of thorns and holds a bunch of rods used for scourging in his left hand.

[Görres, cda 2012]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Younger (?)
Lucas Cranach der Ältere

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Younger (?)

[Exhib. Cat. Bremen 2009, No. 23] [Exhib. Cat. Frankfurt 2007, No. 60]

Lucas Cranach der Ältere

[Winkler, Plambeck 1930, 23]

Hans Kemmer

[Habicht 1931, 11]

Production date
about 1537

Production date

about 1537

[Exhib. Cat. Bremen 2009, No. 23]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 51.2 x 34.5 x 1.3 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 51.2 x 34.5 x 1.3 cm

  • Dimensions with frame: 68.5 x 52 x 10.5 cm

  • [Museum im Roselius-Haus, revised 2013]

Signature / Dating

None

Inscriptions and Labels
  • top right, in part illegible:
    'Jesus [...]
    [...]
    Doch und trincke nur [...] sonst
    Fort fort …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

    • top right, in part illegible:
  • 'Jesus [...]

  • [...]

  • Doch und trincke nur [...] sonst

  • Fort fort und gib dein Herze mir

  • Mein Blut solls laben für und für

  • Und bringen hin Zur himmells Zier,

  • Der Mensch

  • Jesus Seite thut sich weit

  • zu mir auff. Sein Blut das schreijt

  • wem da dürstet der komm hehr.

  • Jesu! Auch mich dürstet sehr,

  • trancke aus der Seiten hohl

  • deiner wunden meine Seel

  • die ich deinem Blut befehl.'

  • [Exhib. Cat. Bremen 2009, No. 23]

  • The text, applied in gold with a brush, is extensively abraded and illegible up to the first line of the quotation. Even infrared reflectography carried out by Ingo Sandner in 2007 did not help to decipher it. It is not original and was probably added in the 17th century.

  • [Iris Ritschel: Christus als Schmerzensmann, no date, type written manuscript in the archive of the Kunstsammlungen Böttcherstraße, Bremen]

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • Recto:

    • bottom right: in white: 'No. 258'
    • directly beneath the 58:
  • '69'

  • Reverse of the panel:

    • bottom left:
  • rectangular paper label with white text: 'Inv. Nr. 56' (below the left block, 2.4 cm from the left edge of the panel)

    • bottom right:
  • red circular paper label with a black printed text around the edge; dark brown printed text running around the edge: 'Roselius Haus Bremen' (in the centre the museum's logo), 13.4 cm from the left edge of the panel and 25 cm from the bottom edge.

    • centre:
  • circular paper label: 'Roselius Haus Bremen'

    • centre:
  • rectangular paper label, printed in black: '33' (cross-out in faint black)

    • top left:
  • (above the first block from the left at the top) written in black: 'LR 56',

    • on the right, beside this:
  • printed in black: 'Rosel[..]'

    • beneath the above:
  • '513' crossed-out

  • Formerly (until 2003) there was a further printed paper label on the reverse of the panel, which documented the reframing of the painting by the fram manufacturer F.G. Conzen in Düsseldorf before 1934: 'F. G. Conzen, Düsseldorf. No. [...] königl. Preuß. Fürstl. Hohenzollern'scher u. Fürstl. Schaumburg-Lippischer Hoflieferant Poststraße 1a u. 1b Spiegel- Bilderrahmen- und Leistenfabrik Kasernenstr. 13 (zur Nachbestellung genügt Angabe der Nummer)'

  • [Museum im Roselius-Haus, revised 2013]

Owner
Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Stadtgemeinde
Repository
Kunstsammlungen Boettcherstraße, Bremen
Location
Bremen
CDA ID
DE_KBSB_B56
FR (1978) Nr.
FR381F
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_KBSB_B56/

Provenance

  • 1919 Galerie Alfred Flechtheim, Düsseldorf
  • in September 1928 acquired by Ludwig Roselius from Arthur Hauth, Düsseldorf with the assistance of Johannes Hinrichsen, Berlin
  • 1988 acquired by the borough (Stadtgemeinde) of Bremen
    [Exhib. Cat. Bremen 2009, No. 23]

Exhibitions

  • Frankfurt 2007, No. 60
  • Bremen 2009, No. 23

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Cat. Coburg 2018 79, fn. 11 under no. 12
AuthorKlaus Weschenfelder
TitleCranach in Coburg. Gemälde von Lucas Cranach d.Ä., Lucas Cranach d.J., der Werkstatt und des Umkreises in den Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg
Place of PublicationRegensburg
Year of Publication2018
Exhib. Cat. Bremen 2009 23
EditorRainer Stamm
TitleLucas Cranach der Schnellste
Place of PublicationBremen
Year of Publication2009
Exhib. Cat. Frankfurt 2007 240-241 60 p. 241
EditorBodo Brinkmann
TitleCranach der Ältere, [Frankfurt, Städel Museum, 23 Nov 2007 - 17 Feb 2008]
Place of PublicationOstfildern
Year of Publication2007
Cat. Bremen 1979 20
AuthorErnst Wolfgang Mick
TitleDas Roseliushaus in der Böttcherstraße
Place of PublicationBremen
Year of Publication1979
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 307E
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Cat. Bremen 1969 20
AuthorWerner Kloos
TitleDie Museen der Boettcherstraße in Bremen
SeriesKulturgeschichtliche Museen in Deutschland
Place of PublicationHamburg
Year of Publication1969
Müller Hofstede 1969
AuthorJulius Müller Hofstede
TitleGutachten vom 12.3.1969, Werkakte
Year of Publication1969
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932 87
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1932
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/friedlaender1932
Habicht 1931 111
AuthorVictor Curt Habicht
TitleDie Hauptwerke im Roselius-Haus in Bremen
JournalPantheon
Issue4, H. 3, (1931)
Year of Publication1931
Pages106-111
Winkler, Plambeck 1930 23
AuthorFriedrich Horst Winkler, Otto Plambeck
TitleDas Roseliushaus in Bremen. Führer und Plan
SeriesSchriften der Böttcherstraße in Bremen
Volume3
Place of PublicationBremen
Year of Publication1930
Kain 1928
AuthorRobert Kain
TitleDie Kunstschätze des Roselius-Hauses in der Böttcherstraße. Teil II
JournalBremer Nachrichten
Issue25.12.1928
Year of Publication1928
Flechtheim 1919 p. 88
EditorGalerie Alfred Flechtheim
TitleGalerie Alfred Flechtheim. Wiedereröffnung Ostern 1919. 1. Ausstellung Expressionisten
Place of PublicationPotsdam, Berlin
Year of Publication1919
  • Christ as the Man of Sorrows, about 1537

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • overall
  • irr

Technical studies

2013Technical Examination

Framing

The frame is not original, but is based on ag contemporary frame.

Description: coniferous wooden members stained black with a cornice profile and rounded battens, which cross at the mitres (gilded). Gold coloured round battens with gold inserts, the bottom batten is champfered and painted black, with an engraved label 'Lucas Cranach d. Ä. 1472–1555'

68.5 x 52 x 10.5 cm

[Museum im Roselius-Haus, revised 2013]

10. 2010Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

Underdrawing

- an underdrawing is not readily visible; some chalk lines defining form are visible in Christ’s left hand

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich, cda 2012]

  • photographed by Ingo Sandner
  • photographed by Gunnar Heydenreich

2009Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography

Underdrawing

The long, free lines of the underdrawing delineating contours are visible to the naked eye. These were executed with a brush in a diluted medium e.g. ink made with soot-black.

[Exhib. Cat. Bremen 2009, No. 23]

2003Scientific analysis

  • Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology

Support

Beech wood panel consisting of two planks:

Plank 1 = 111 annual rings (1530-1420)

Plankt 2 = 41 annual rings (1465-1425)

Plank 1 is from the same tree as the wood used for the following panels:

- 'Duke Johann Ernst of Saxony' (1521-1533), Cranach workshop, [Berlin] Inv. No. II 55;

DE_smbGG_55-2 _FR-none

- 'Dr. Martin Luther (1483-1546)', Cranach workshop, [Berlin] Inv. No. 619 [possibly incorrect]; DE_smbGG_617_FR314-315F [possibly also: Philipp Melanchthon, Berlin, Inv. No. 619; DE_smbGG_619_FR314-315F

- 'The Ill-matched Pair', Cranach workshop, [Berlin] Inv. No. 1606; DE_smbGG_1606_FR-none

- 'Martin Luther', Fürstenberg-Sammlungen, Donaueschingen, Inv. No. 727;

- 'Electors of Saxony', (left and right wings), Hamburger Kunsthalle, Inv. No. 606, DE_HKH_HK-606a_FR338; DE_HKH_HK-606c_FR338

- 'Lucretia', Gemäldegalerie Berlin, Inv. No. 1832, DE_smbGG_1832_FR239

- 'Eve', Chicago, Inv. No. 1935.295

- 'The Departure of the Apostles', (Planks II and III), Stockholm, Inv. No. 254

- 'Portrait of a Man' (Planks I and II), Kansas City, Inv. No. 31-112, US_NAMAKC_31-112_FR415

The most recent annual ring is from the year 1531.

The cradle consists of two moveable horizontal members. Five blocks differing in size have been glued onto both the right and left side. Further blocks were glued above the join on the lower part of the panel.

With beech wood the entire cross-section is normally used and only the bark is removed therefore it may be assumed that the tree was felled no earlier than 1531. assuming the wood was seasoned for at least two years then painting can not have been created before 1533.

[ Prof. Dr. Peter Klein: Report of dendrochronological examination of the panel 'Christ as the Man of Sorrows' (L. Cranach, Inv. No. B 56) from 8.9.2003, Archive of the Kunstsammlungen Bötcherstrasse, Bremen]

  • examined by Peter Klein

Condition Reports

Date2009 -

The text, applied in gold with a brush, is extensively abraded and illegible up to the first line of the quotation. Even infrared reflectography carried out by Ingo Sandner in 2007 did not help to decipher it. It is not original and was probably added in the 17th century.

[Iris Ritschel: Christus als Schmerzensmann, no date, type written manuscript in the archive of the Kunstsammlungen Böttcherstraße, Bremen]

Date1992 -

  • numerous fills and retouches, glazed overpaint along the join

  • the original varnish has not been preserved; the thick, glossy varnish is a later addition

[ Petra Klier (Hamburg): Documentation, 1992, Archive of the Kunstsammlungen Böttcherstraße, Bremen ]

Conservation History

Date1982

  • 1982 by Renate Kant, Hamburg

[ Iris Ritschel: Christus als Schmerzensmann, no date, type written manuscript in the archive of the Kunstsammlungen Böttcherstraße, Bremen]

  • conservation treatment by Renate Kant

Date1934

  • at least one restoration treatment was carried out before 1934 (according to the written correspondance from the restorer Herbert Wernicke to Ludwig Roselius from 15.4.1934 two varnish layers were removed from the recto of the painting in 1934 and small retouches were renewed. However the glazes of the flesh paint also appear to have been added, because they intersect the contours of the body in places and overlap the dark background. Accordingly there must have been an ealier intervention before the restoration by Herbert Wernicke)

  • 1934 by Herbert Wernicke, Bremen

[ Iris Ritschel: Christus als Schmerzensmann, no date, type written manuscript in the archive of the Kunstsammlungen Böttcherstraße, Bremen]

  • conservation treatment by Herbert Wernicke

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
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Entry with no author
'Christ as the Man of Sorrows', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_KBSB_B56/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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