Christ and the Adulteress

Christ and the Adulteress

Title

Christ and the Adulteress

[cda 2018]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[cda 2018]

Painting on wood (oak ?), laminated onto a plywood board

[Exhib. Cat. Lübeck 2021, no. 41]
[St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018]

Christ stands behind a balustrade with a text from the gospel [...], at his left the faithful sinner looks up at him [...] Christ looks at the woman and points at the inscription with his left hand. The twelve disciples stand behind the adulteress tightly packed into the right half

Christ stands behind a balustrade with a text from the gospel [...], at his left the faithful sinner looks up at him [...] Christ looks at the woman and points at the inscription with his left hand. The twelve disciples stand behind the adulteress tightly packed into the right half of the painting. Christ dismissively raises his hand at the five denouncers on his right, among them three soldiers with beefy, ugly faces and massive hands. Two of the soldiers stare resentfully at the scared sinner, while the others have already turned their back on her.

[Emmendörffer 1997, 106, No. 7]

Attribution
Hans Kemmer

Attribution

Hans Kemmer

[Heydenreich 2021 A, 55] [Exhib. Cat. Lübeck 2021, no. 41]
[St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018]
[Exhib. Cat. Lübeck 2015, 358-359, no. 67]
[Emmendörffer 1997, 106-107, no. 7]

Production date
about 1535

Production date

about 1535

[Exhib. Cat. Lübeck 2021, no. 41] [St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018] [Emmendörffer 1997, 106]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 50.9 x 61.5 x 1.5 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 50.9 x 61.5 x 1.5 cm

  • Dimensions including frame: 62.3 x 80 x 7.3 cm

  • [St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018]

Signature / Dating

none

Inscriptions and Labels

on the parapet:
"MEISTER.DESSE FROVWE.IS.BEGREPE(N).VP.FRISKER.DAETH/
IN.DER.EBREKERI.MOSES.HEFT.VNS.IM.GESET.GEBADEN./
SVLKE.THO.STENEN.WAT.SECHSTV//
WOL.MANCK.IW.ANE./SVNDE.IS.DE.WARP/
DEN.IRSTEN.STEN.VP.SE.//
CRISTVS.SPRACK.FROVWE.WOR.SINT.DINE/
ANKLEGERS.HEFT.DI.NEMANT.VOERDEOMET.SE.SPRACK.HER/
NEMANT.SO.VERDOENE.ICK.DI.OCK.NICHT.GA.HE(N).SV(N)DIGE.NICHT.MER."
(Joh 8,7)
[St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018] …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

  • on the parapet:

  • "MEISTER.DESSE FROVWE.IS.BEGREPE(N).VP.FRISKER.DAETH/

  • IN.DER.EBREKERI.MOSES.HEFT.VNS.IM.GESET.GEBADEN./

  • SVLKE.THO.STENEN.WAT.SECHSTV//

  • WOL.MANCK.IW.ANE./SVNDE.IS.DE.WARP/

  • DEN.IRSTEN.STEN.VP.SE.//

  • CRISTVS.SPRACK.FROVWE.WOR.SINT.DINE/

  • ANKLEGERS.HEFT.DI.NEMANT.VOERDEOMET.SE.SPRACK.HER/

  • NEMANT.SO.VERDOENE.ICK.DI.OCK.NICHT.GA.HE(N).SV(N)DIGE.NICHT.MER."

  • (Joh 8,7)

  • [St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018]

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • on the reverse:

    • label with inventory number: 'No. 3'
    • below, a seal with the coat of arms of the Silesian dynasty Carolath-Beuthen

  • [Emmendörffer 1997, 106-107, No. 7]

Owner
Kulturstiftung Hansestadt Lübeck, die Lübecker Museen
Repository
St. Annen-Museum, Lübeck
Location
Lübeck
CDA ID
DE_SAML_2010-118
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SAML_2010-118/

Provenance

  • in the 18th century property of the Dukes of Carolath-Beuthen
  • by the beginning of the 19th century property of the Silesian counts von Pückler
    [Emmendörffer 1997, 106-107, no. 7]
  • private collection, London
  • acquired in Nov. 2010, at Kunsthaus Lempertz, Cologne
    [St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018]

Exhibitions

Lübeck 2015, no. 67
Lübeck 2021, no. 41

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. Lübeck 2021 236, 237 041 Fig. p. 237
EditorDagmar Täube
TitleLucas Cranach der Ältere und Hans Kemmer. Meistermaler zwischen Renaissance und Reformation [Lübeck, St. Annen-Museum]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2021
Show Literature
Heydenreich 2021 A 52, 54, 55 Figs. 5, 7
AuthorGunnar Heydenreich
TitleHans Kemmer: Spuren künstlerischer Gestaltungsprozesse. Teil I: Lübeck
Publicationin Dagmar Täube, ed., Lucas Cranach der Ältere und Hans Kemmer. Meistermaler zwischen Renaissance und Reformation [Lübeck, St. Annen-Museum]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2021
Pages49-57
Show Literature
Mayer 2021 108
AuthorMiriam Mayer
TitleInschriften und Signaturen. Überlegungen zur Verwendung von Schrift in ausgewählten Werken von Hans Kemmer.
Publicationin Dagmar Täube, ed., Lucas Cranach der Ältere und Hans Kemmer. Meistermaler zwischen Renaissance und Reformation [Lübeck, St. Annen-Museum]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2021
Pages103-113
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Lübeck 2015 358-359 No. 67
EditorJan Friedrich Richter
TitleLübeck 1500 - Kunstmetropole im Ostseeraum
Year of Publication2015
Show Literature
Emmendörffer 1997 106-107 007
AuthorChristoph Emmendörffer
TitleHans Kemmer. Ein Lübecker Maler der Reformationszeit
Place of PublicationLeipzig
Year of Publication1997
Show Literature
Wittstock 1982 147
AuthorJürgen Wittstock
TitleKemmer, Hans (Johann)
Publicationin Schleswig-Holsteinischen Landesbibliothek, Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte und des Vereins für Lübeckische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, eds., Biographisches Lexikon für Schleswig-Holstein und Lübeck
Volume6
Place of PublicationNeumünster
Year of Publication1982
Pages146-147
Show Literature
  • Christ and the Adulteress, about 1535

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • overall

Technical studies

Support

- the support is made of oak wood and was later attached to a plywood board. It consists of three horizontally alligned planks. There is a 6.5 cm addition along the top edge, which was attached in the 19th century. On the recto of the panel only the form of the turban was reconstructed and otherwise the addition was integrated employing a black paint similar to the background. The panel had been trimmed slightly along this edge as a barbe is no longer visible. However the tight composition suggests that the loss was not considerable.

Ground and Imprimatura

- the ground is chalk/glue based. A barbe has been retained along the left, right and lower edges of the wooden panel. The plywood board that was attached to the reverse of the panel during a later treatment has made it difficult to establish, which techiques were originally employed.

[St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018]

Condition Reports

Date2017 -

Support:

  • the wooden panel consists of three planks, the upper addition is not original; a plywood board was attached to the verso; the planks exhibit a convex warp; the original joins are stable with a slight step; there are four conspicuous splits that are slightly open

Paint layers:

a fine network of cracquele covers the entire surface; some drying cracks (retouched); some flaking; numerous small losses, for the greater part retouched

[St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018]

Conservation History

Date2014

In 2014 a new rebate was fitted to the frame and the painting was placed in a climate box and glazed.

  • conservation treatment by Astrid Frenkel

Date2011

the painting was iin a relatively poor aesthetic condition when it was accessioned by the St.Annen-Museum in 2010. A comprehensive conservation treatment was carried out in 2011, which included the removal of a very thick and yellowed varnish, as well as extensive overpaint in the background.

[St. Annen-Museum, revised 2018]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Christ and the Adulteress', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SAML_2010-118/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Christ and the Adulteress', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SAML_2010-118/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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