Second commandment: Swear not His name in vain

Second commandment: Swear not His name in vain

Title

Second commandment: Swear not His name in vain

[cda 2015]

Painting on softwood

Medium

Painting on softwood

[Städtische Galerie Dresden, revised 2015]

This is the only panel of the series depicting a demon. Before the 16th century paintings illustrating the 'Ten Commandments' almost always included such images as a deterrent and a warning. The modern attire of the left card player with the slitted doublet is quite striking.

[Städtische Galerie Dresden, revised

This is the only panel of the series depicting a demon. Before the 16th century paintings illustrating the 'Ten Commandments' almost always included such images as a deterrent and a warning. The modern attire of the left card player with the slitted doublet is quite striking.

[Städtische Galerie Dresden, revised 2015]

Attribution
Hans der Maler

Attribution

Hans der Maler

[Städtische Galerie Dresden, revised 2015]

Production date
about 1528/29

Production date

about 1528/29

[Städtische Galerie Dresden, revised 2015]

Dimensions
Dimension of painted surface: 137 x 86.5 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimension of painted surface: 137 x 86.5 cm

  • Dimension including frame: 145.6 x 95 cm

  • [Städtische Galerie Dresden, revised 2015]

Signature / Dating

none

Inscriptions and Labels

upper edge: naming the commandment

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

  • upper edge: naming the commandment

Owner
Städtische Galerie Dresden
Repository
Stadtmuseum Dresden
Location
Dresden
CDA ID
DE_SGD_1968-33
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SGD_1968-33/

Provenance

According to an invoice from 1528/29 that is now lost Hans Maler received 9 Schock and 17 groschens from the Kreuzkirche for the execution of panels depicting the ten commandments. Michel Uell was responsible for the preparation of the panels. (Neues Archiv für sächsische Geschichte IV, 1883, 105-109)
[Sandner 1993, 315]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Kolb 2005 A 115
AuthorKarin Kolb
TitleCranach - Die Gemälde in Dresden und ihre Geschichte
Publicationin Harald Marx, Ingrid Mössinger, Karin Kolb, eds., Cranach. Gemälde aus Dresden, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz
Place of PublicationCologne
Year of Publication2005
Pages112-173
Sandner, Ritschel 1994 191 Fig. A132
AuthorIngo Sandner, Iris Ritschel
TitleArbeitsweise und Maltechnik Lucas Cranachs und seiner Werkstatt
Publicationin Claus Grimm, Johannes Erichsen, Evamaria Brockhoff, eds., Lucas Cranach. Ein Maler-Unternehmer aus Franken, Exhib. Cat. Kronach 1994
SeriesVeröffentlichungen zur bayerischen Geschichte und Kultur
Volume26
Place of PublicationAugsburg, Coburg
Year of Publication1994
Pages186-193
Sandner 1993 315-316
AuthorIngo Sandner
TitleSpätgotische Tafelmalerei in Sachsen
Place of PublicationDresden, Basel
Year of Publication1993
Gurlitt 1900 16-20
AuthorCornelius Gurlitt
TitleBeschreibende Darstellung der älteren Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler des Königreichs Sachsen. Heft 21: Stadt Dresden
Place of PublicationDresden
Year of Publication1900

Research History / Discussion

This artist, who without doubt trained in the Cranach family workshop, belongs to a generation of artists that no longer concentrated on the production of altarpieces, but was flexible and executed various tasks. He might be Hans (Johannes) Maler who until 1535 was responsible for designing the annual 'Johannisspiele' in Dresden. An earlier attempt to attribute the initials 'GB' on the coat of arms to Gregor Byners - a Cranach apprentice mentioned as active in Schneeberg - can no longer be verified as the records have been lost, but it would seem more plausible that the initials are those of Gregor Byner, the mayor in office at the time and a person who would have exercised considerable influence on the commission. The sixth panel shows the coat of arms of the last catholic priest Pleban Dr. Peter Eyssenberg (P D P E).

In 1530 Johann Moler of Dresden registered his son as 'Valten molers' (Valentin Elner?), an event witnessed by four Freiberg citizens. [1] Whether he was the creator of the ten commandment panels and his father the Cranach apprentice to whom we have already attributed paintings in Zwickau, Rochlitz, Döbeln and Grimma must remain a hypothetical. It is however conceivable that the son followed in his father's footsteps.

A certain stylistic similarity to the Dresden ten commandment panels can be recognized in two images originally from the Riesaer monastery church, but were lost during the Second World War. They depicted the scenes of Christ in the Temple and the Flight into Egypt and were the recto and verso of a panel that had been split.[2]

[1] from Thieme/Becker

[2]Hentschel 1973, No. 343

[Sandner 1993, 315-316]

The painter Johann or Hans from Dresden represented the world of renaissance bourgoise life in the 'Ten commandments' cycle he painted for the Kreuzkirche in 1528/29. The former apprentice to Lucas Cranach the Elder combined a depiction of the fundamental maxim of jewish and christian religion with the representation of contemporary landscapes, streets, interiors and daily scenes. When reformation beliefs were introduced to the dukedom of Saxony in 1539 the paintings disappeared into the attic of the town hall. The most probable reason for this was that traces of the old faith were visible in some of the paintings.

[Städtische Galerie Dresden, revised 2015]

  • Second commandment: Swear not His name in vain, about 1528/29

Images

Compare images
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Technical studies

03. 2015Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

Underdrawing

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Material:

- fluid, black medium; brush

Type/Ductus:

- freehand underdrawing

- thin to slightly broader lines

- occasional hatching-strokes

Function:

- relatively binding for the final painted version; the lines delineate the main contours and describe essential details and facial features; some representation of volume with hatching-strokes

Deviations:

- minor corrections were made to forms during the painting process; changes e. g. the position of the hand of the man at the end of the table

INTERPRETATION

Attribution:

- Hans der Maler (Hans the Painter)

[Sandner, Smith-Contini, Heydenreich, cda 2016]

  • photographed by Helen Smith
  • photographed by Ingo Sandner

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Second commandment: Swear not His name in vain', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SGD_1968-33/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Second commandment: Swear not His name in vain', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SGD_1968-33/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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