Melancholia

Melancholia

Title

Melancholia

[CDA 2011]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[Exhib. Cat. Brussels, Paris 2010/2011, 233, No. 153]

A female figure with wings sits at the edge of the painting in a make believe architectural setting with a view of a landscape. In the middle distance four children play - one swings in a looped rope. At the top left edge of the painting four mounted witches and

A female figure with wings sits at the edge of the painting in a make believe architectural setting with a view of a landscape. In the middle distance four children play - one swings in a looped rope. At the top left edge of the painting four mounted witches and a man on a ram are depicted in front of a black cloud.

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder (assisted by Hans Cranach?)

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Exhib. Cat. Brussels, Paris 2010/2011, 233, No. 153]

Lucas Cranach the Elder (assisted by Hans Cranach?)

[Koepplin, Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974, 292, No. 172]

Production date
1532

Production date

1532

[dated]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 76.5 x 56.0 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 76.5 x 56.0 cm

  • [Exhib. Cat. Brussels, Paris 2010/2011, 233, No. 153]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia on the front edge of the table: winged serpent with elevated wings, facing right and dated '1532'

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia on the front edge of the table: winged serpent with elevated wings, facing right and dated '1532'

Owner
Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar
Repository
Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar
Location
Colmar
CDA ID
F_MUC_83-5-1
FR (1978) Nr.
FR277A
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/F_MUC_83-5-1/

Provenance

  • 1966 Baron Stig Klingspor Collection, Raback
  • Swiss Private Collection
  • 1983 acquired at Colnaghi's, New York

[Exhib. Cat. Brussels, Paris 2010/2011, 233, No. 153]

Exhibitions

Stockholm 1966
Basel 1974
Frankfurt 2007
Brussels, Paris 2010/2011
Düsseldorf 2017, No. 141

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. Düsseldorf 2017 238 No. 141
EditorGunnar Heydenreich, Daniel Görres, Beat Wismer
TitleLucas Cranach der Ältere. Meister - Marke - Moderne. [anlässlich der Ausstellung "Cranach. Meister - Marke - Moderne", Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, 08. April 2017 - 30. Juli 2017]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2017
Heydenreich 2015 122 Fig. 4b
AuthorGunnar Heydenreich
TitleHans Cranach. Auf der Suche nach seinem verlorenen Oeuvre
Publicationin Elke A. Werner, Anne Eusterschulte, Gunnar Heydenreich, eds., Lucas Cranach der Jüngere und die Reformation der Bilder
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2015
Link https://lucascranach.org/application/files/5415/6232/3883/Heydenreich_2015_-_Hans_Cranach.pdf
Pages116 -127
Axthelm-Hoffmann 2012 192-193 3
AuthorDagmar Hoffmann-Axthelm
TitleVanitas. Lukas Cranachs Melancholia-Gemälde (1533)
JournalMusic in Art. International Journal of Music Iconography
Issue37, 1/2
Year of Publication2012
Pages191-206
Exhib. Cat. Paris 2011 233 153
EditorGuido Messling
TitleCranach et son temps [Paris, Musée du Luxembourg]
Place of PublicationParis
Year of Publication2011
Exhib. Cat. Brussels 2010 233-234 153 pp. 233, 256
EditorBozarbooks & Lannoo, Guido Messling
TitleDie Welt des Lucas Cranach. Ein Künstler im Zeitalter von Dürer, Tizian und Metsys [anlässlich der Ausstellung "Die Welt des Lucas Cranach", Palast der Schönen Künste, Brüssel, 20. Oktober 2010 - 23. Januar 2011]
Place of PublicationBrussels
Year of Publication2010
Exhib. Cat. Frankfurt 2007 318-319 98 p. 319
EditorBodo Brinkmann
TitleCranach der Ältere, [Frankfurt, Städel Museum, 23 Nov 2007 - 17 Feb 2008]
Place of PublicationOstfildern
Year of Publication2007
Koepplin 2007 B 63
AuthorDieter Koepplin
TitleCranachs Bilder der Caritas im theologischen und humanistischen Geiste Luthers und Melanchthons
Publicationin Bodo Brinkmann, ed., Cranach der Ältere [Exhib. Cat. Frankfurt]
Place of PublicationOstfildern
Year of Publication2007
Pages63-79
Hersant 2005 110-111
AuthorYves Hersant
TitleRote Melancholie
Publicationin Jean Claire, ed., Melancholie. Genie und Wahnsinn in der Kunst, Exhib. Cat. Paris, Berlin
Place of PublicationOstfildern-Ruit
Year of Publication2005
Pages110-17, 140ff.
Koepplin 2003 C 147, 148, 150, 151 Figs. 41, 42
AuthorDieter Koepplin
TitleEin Cranach-Prinzip
Publicationin Heinz Spielmann, Werner Schade, eds., Lucas Cranach. Glaube, Mythologie und Moderne, Exhib. Cat. Hamburg 2003
Place of PublicationOstfildern-Ruit
Year of Publication2003
Pages144-165
Cat. Colmar 1991 55, 57
AuthorSylvie Lecoq-Ramond, Pantxika Béguerie
TitleLe Musée d'Unterlinden de Colmar
Place of PublicationParis
Year of Publication1991
Cat. Colmar 1990 No. 68
AuthorChristian Heck, Esther Moench-Scherer
TitleCatalogue general des paintures du Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar
Place of PublicationColmar
Year of Publication1990
Heck 1986
AuthorChristian Heck
TitleEntre Humanisme et réforme: La Mélancholie de Lucas Cranach l'Ancien
JournalLa revue du Louvre et des Musées de France
Issue36
Year of Publication1986
Pages257-264
Miguet 1985
AuthorThierry Miguet
TitleRavissante Mélancloie
Publicationin Michel Malicet, ed., Hommages à Jacques Petit (Centre de Recherches Jacques Petit, 41)
VolumeVol. 2
Place of PublicationParis
Year of Publication1985
Pages838-868
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 125 No. 277A
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976 269-270, 292-293, 422, 499, 742 No. 172
AuthorDieter Koepplin, Tilman Falk
TitleLukas Cranach. Gemälde, Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik
Volume1, 2
Place of PublicationBasel, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1974
Link http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-diglit-104522
Exhib. Cat. Stockholm 1966 514 No. 1291
Authorn. a.
TitleChristina Queen of Sweden - a personality of European civilisation [Nationalmuseum Stockholm]
Place of PublicationStockholm
Year of Publication1966

Research History / Discussion

'Devilish temptation is exuded here also. A vainly dressed man is abducted on a ram by witches, children play mischievous games with a rope swing, one doesn’t know. A plate of fruit and a goblet remain untouched. Two partridges, as they are otherwise depicted by Cranach with the Nymph of the Fountain (from the entourage of the Huntung Goddess Diana), contrast with the doleful, inactive hound. (see No. 544ff. colour plate 17).

The artistic quality corresponds with the 'autographed' works by Cranach and may be marked with a real Cranach insigna; it is however not quite of the same standard as comparable works. Did the 19 year old Hans Cranach contribute to this work? The soft the brushstrokes could stem from him (see No. 473).’

[Koepplin, Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974, 292-293, No. 172]

'Cranach responded to Dürer's engraving of 'Melancholy' from 1514, possibly the 'most spoken about and commented work in the history of art' (Mende), with a series of paintings, all of them created between 1528 (FR277A) and 1533 (FR277). The fact that these works were created within a few years of each other but a certain time after the highly complex image by the artist from Nuremburg raises the question of whether there was an external cause. Koepplin convincingly speculates this may be related to Luther's view on Melancholy and its negative consequences. Based on these Cranach designed his antithesis/counter-images to Dürer's new, now positively tainted interpretation of the melancholic disposition. Under the influence of Neoplatonism Dürer emphasized the creative powers roused by Melancholy in his engraving and as it were bequeathed a programmatic image of his artistic self...'

[Messling, Exhib. Cat. Brussels, Paris 2010/2011, 233, No. 153]

  • Melancholia, 1532

Images

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Technical studies

10. 2010Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

Underdrawing

- an underdrawing is not visible

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich, cda 2012]

  • photographed by Gunnar Heydenreich
  • photographed by Ingo Sandner

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Melancholia', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/F_MUC_83-5-1/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Melancholia', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/F_MUC_83-5-1/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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