Johann the Steadfast, Elector of Saxony

Johann the Steadfast, Elector of Saxony

Title

Johann the Steadfast, Elector of Saxony

[CDA 2010]

Painting on limewood

Medium

Painting on limewood

[Exhib. Cat. Coburg 2010, 153]
[Klein report 03.03.2016]

The pendant piece of this posthumous portrait of the elector Johann is the Coburg Portrait of Friedrich the Wise (Inv. No. M164). The sitter is shown in three-quarters profile, facing his brother. His dark hair and beard distinguish him. Befitting a saxon lord Johann wears the elector's signet ring on

The pendant piece of this posthumous portrait of the elector Johann is the Coburg Portrait of Friedrich the Wise (Inv. No. M164). The sitter is shown in three-quarters profile, facing his brother. His dark hair and beard distinguish him. Befitting a saxon lord Johann wears the elector's signet ring on the index finger of his right hand. His hands rest on a black ballustrade-like ledge on which a piece of printed paper is attached with a rhyming text block in two columns recording the sitter's name, position and life.

[Exhib. Cat. Coburg 2010, 153]

Attribution
Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop

Attribution

Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop

[Cat. Coburg 2018, 148]

Production date
1532

Production date

1532

[Pendant dated]
[Exhib. Cat. Coburg 2010, 153]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 61.3 x 37.5 x 0.9 cm (original panel)/ 1.7 cm (including auxiliary support)

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 61.3 x 37.5 x 0.9 cm (original panel)/ 1.7 cm (including auxiliary support)

  • [Cat. Coburg 2018, 14)]

Signature / Dating

none

Inscriptions and Labels

38 lines of text printed on paper:

'Johans der erst / Churfurst
Und Herzog zu Sachssen

Nach meines lieben bruders end …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

  • 38 lines of text printed on paper:

  • 'Johans der erst / Churfurst

  • Und Herzog zu Sachssen

  • Nach meines lieben bruders end /

  • Bleib auff mir das gantz Regimend.

  • Mit grosser sorg vnd mancher fahr

  • Da der Bawr toll vnd töricht war

  • Die auffrhur fast inn allem land/

  • Wie gros fewer im wald entbrand.

  • Welches ich halff dempfen mit Gott

  • Der Deudschen land erret aus not.

  • Der Rottengeister feind ich war/

  • Hielt im land das wort rein und klar.

  • Gros drawen / bittern haß und neid

  • Umb Gottes worts willen ich leid.

  • Frey bekand ichs aus hertzem grund

  • Und personlich selbst ich da stund.

  • Vor dem Kaiser vnd gantzen Reich/

  • Von fursten gschach vor nie des gleich

  • Solchs gab mir mein Gott besunder

  • Des fast die gantze welt nahm wunder

  • Drob land und leute bringen mich/

  • Hofft beide freund vnd feind gewislich

  • Ferdinand zu Römischem König gemach/

  • Und sein wahl ich allein anfacht.

  • Auff das / das alte Recht bestünd

  • Inn der gülden Bullen gegründ.

  • Wiewol das grossen zorn erregt

  • Mich doch mehr recht denn gunst bewegt

  • Das hertz gab Gott dem Kaiser zart/

  • Mein guter freund / zu letzt er ward.

  • Das ich mein end im frid beschlos/

  • Daß sehr den Teuffel das verdros

  • Erfarn hab ichs vnd zeugen thar/

  • Wie vns die schrifft sagt vnd ist war.

  • Wer Gott mit ernst vertrawen kann/

  • Der bleibt ein vnverdorben man.

  • Es zürne Teuffel odder welt/

  • So stirbter doch zu letzt als Helt '

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • Reverse: - adhesive label and handwritten marking and inventory number KVC

  • [Cat. Coburg 2018, 149]

Owner
Veste Coburg Kunstsammlungen
Repository
Veste Coburg Kunstsammlungen
Location
Coburg
CDA ID
DE_KSVC_M165
FR (1978) Nr.
FR338C
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_KSVC_M165/

Provenance

  • Gotha, Art Cabinet, Friedenstein castle, Picture Gallery
  • 1856 Ducal Art and Antiquities Collection, Coburg (Herzogliche Kunst- und Altertümersammlung der Veste Coburg (HKA))
  • 1919 Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg (KVC)
  • 1921 displayed in the Ducal Palace (Fürstenbau), Coburg
    [Cat. Coburg 2018, 149]

Exhibitions

Coburg 1972 2f., no. 20
Coburg 2010, no. 166

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Cat. Coburg 2018 149, 151-153 28
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
Show Literature
Weschenfelder 2018 A 14, 18, 20
AuthorKlaus Weschenfelder
TitleCranach in Coburg.
Publicationin Klaus Weschenfelder, ed., Cranach 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
Pages7-23
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Coburg 2010 153 No. 1.1.20 Fig. 1.1.20
EditorLWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Münster, Klaus Weschenfelder, Beate Böckum, Ruth Hansmann, Matthias Müller
TitleApelles am Fürstenhof, Facetten der Hofkunst um 1500 im Alten Reich
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication2010
Show Literature
Braunfels, Eissenhauer 1996 42 Fig. p. 43
EditorVeronika Braunfels, Michael Eissenhauer
TitleMit Luther durch die Kunstsammlungen. Ein Führer zu den Luther-Zeugnissen in den Sammlungen der Veste Coburg
Place of PublicationSchweinfurt
Year of Publication1996
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 137 No. 338C
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Coburg 1972 No. 21
EditorHeino Maedebach
TitleGraphik aus dem Kupferstichkabinett der Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg. Beiheft: Lucas Cranach d. Ae. und seine Werkstatt: Gemälde
Place of PublicationCoburg
Year of Publication1972
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932 79 272
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
Show Literature

Connected Works

Friedrich III the Wise, Elector of Saxony
  • Friedrich III the Wise, Elector of Saxony, 1532
  • DE_KSVC_M164
  • Painting
  • Veste Coburg Kunstsammlungen
  • Johann the Steadfast, Elector of Saxony, 1532

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • overall

Technical studies

2018Technical Examination

Support

- limewood

- four horizontally aligned boards with butt joints: I:16 cm; II: 13 cm, III: 17 cm; IV (a later addition): 16 cm

Ground and Imprimatura

- chalk ground

[Cat. Coburg 2018, 149]

03.03.2016Scientific analysis

  • Dendrochronology / identification of wood species

Support

Identification of wood species: limewood (Tilia sp.)

[Klein report, 03.03.2016]

  • analysed by Peter Klein

Condition Reports

Date2018

Support:

  • laminated to an oak panel; two horizontal beech wood batten inserts. A strip of paper runs around the edge of the panel. The bottom plank (IV) was probably added to the portrait later.

Paint layers:

  • numerous old fills are visible. These are probably open woodworm channels just below the painted surface, that have been filled and retouched. The added plank has been painted and a sheet of paper from the 18th century with a printed inscription has been glued to it.

Varnish:

  • the painting has a glossy resin varnish, which was probably applied repeatedly with a brush. The strong fluorescence of this layer restricts the identification of retouches under UV light to a few relatively recent ones.

[Cat. Coburg 2018, 149]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Johann the Steadfast, Elector of Saxony', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_KSVC_M165/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Johann the Steadfast, Elector of Saxony', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_KSVC_M165/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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