Three Pairs of Lovers

Three Pairs of Lovers

Title

Three Pairs of Lovers

[CDA 2011]

Painting on beech wood

Medium

Painting on beech wood

[Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 402]
[Klein, Report 2003]

Three pairs of lovers are gathered around a table. While the lovers at the right edge of the picture are of similar age, the other two pairs represent different versions of ill-matched love between young and old: at the centre of the scene an ugly old woman pays a young

Three pairs of lovers are gathered around a table. While the lovers at the right edge of the picture are of similar age, the other two pairs represent different versions of ill-matched love between young and old: at the centre of the scene an ugly old woman pays a young man for his attentions. At the left edge of the picture a pretty young woman beguiles a toothless old man, who fails to notice that she has taken money from his purse.

The subject of the 'Ill-matched Pair' warning the viewer to control his lust was very popular in the 16th century.

[Herrschaft, cda 2015]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Younger
Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Younger

[Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 402]
[Koepplin , Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974, No. 469]

Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Woermann, Cat. Dresden 1896][1]
[1][Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 404]

Lucas Cranach the Elder (and workshop)

`from the workshop of Cranach the Elder, partially by the master himself'
[Woermann, Cat. Dresden 1887, 614][1]
[1][Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 404, 407 Fn. 6]

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Mattäi, Cat Dresden 1835][1]
[1][Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 404]

Production dates
after 1537
about 1540

Production dates

after 1537

[Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 402]

about 1540

[Koepplin , Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974, No. 469]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 74 x 121.5 x 3.6 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 74 x 121.5 x 3.6 cm

  • [Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 402]

Signature / Dating

None

Inscriptions and Labels

Reverse of the panel: [Gal.-Nr.]; [Sammlungsnachweis, repeated]; in yellow paint (abreviated): 'ora pro nobis'

Reverse of the frame:

Inscriptions and Labels

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • Reverse of the panel: [Gal.-Nr.]; [Sammlungsnachweis, repeated]; in yellow paint (abreviated): 'ora pro nobis'

  • Reverse of the frame:

  • Sammlungsnachweis Pillnitz: 'Inv. 40.', in pencil: '404'; in blue chalk: '-103'

  • [Exhib. Cat Chemnitz 2005, 402]

Owner
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Repository
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Location
Dresden
CDA ID
DE_SKD_GG1936
FR (1978) Nr.
FR292
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SKD_GG1936/

Provenance

  • entered the Kunstkammer on the 20.11.1657
    [Sächs. HStADD, Cap X a, Nr. 36 (Posse Bd. 1)][1]

  • 1832 transferred to the Gemäldegalerie

[Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 404]
[1][Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 404, 407 Fn. 1]

Exhibitions

Dresden 1937, 17
Weimar 1972, No. 66
Basel 1974, No. 469
Berlin 1983, No. C. 51
Hamburg 2003, 174, No. 39
Chemnitz 2005, No. 32

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Cat. Coburg 2018 202, fn. 11, 203 under no. 44 Fig. 4
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
Maaz 2010 84, 85
AuthorBernhard Maaz
TitleCranach in der Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden
Place of PublicationBerlin, Munich
Year of Publication2010
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005 402-407 32 Pl. pp. 402, 403
EditorHarald Marx, Karin Kolb, Ingrid Mössinger
TitleCranach Anlässlich der Ausstellung Cranach vom 13. November 2005 bis 12. März 2006 in den Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. Eine Ausstellung in Kooperation mit der Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Place of PublicationCologne
Year of Publication2005
Show Literature
Kolb 2005 A 153 32
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
Show Literature
Kolb 2005 C 539, 546, 549-551, 554, 556-559 32
AuthorKarin Kolb
TitleDokumentation zum Dresdener Cranach-Bestand
Publicationin Harald Marx, Ingrid Mössinger, Karin Kolb, eds., Cranach. Gemälde aus Dresden, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz
Place of PublicationCologne
Year of Publication2005
Pages526-572
Show Literature
Noll 2004 414
AuthorThomas Noll
TitleAlbrecht Altdorfer in seiner Zeit. Religiöse und profane Themen in der Kunst um 1500
Place of PublicationMunich, Berlin
Year of Publication2004
Show Literature
Cat. Weimar 1992 No. 20
AuthorHelga Hoffmann
EditorKunstsammlungen zu Weimar
TitleKunstsammlungen zu Weimar. Die deutschen Gemälde des XVI. Jahrhunderts
Place of PublicationFulda
Year of Publication1992
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1983 No. C.51
EditorAltes Museum, Berlin
TitleKunst der Reformationzeit
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1983
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 127 No. 292 Fig. 292
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976 566, 570, 572 No. 469 Fig. 296
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
Show Literature
Schade 1974 70, 541
AuthorWerner Schade
TitleDie Malerfamilie Cranach
Place of PublicationDresden
Year of Publication1974
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/schade1974
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Weimar 1972 B No. 66
EditorSchlossmuseum Weimar
TitleLucas Cranach 1472-1553. Ein großer Maler in bewegter Zeit
Place of PublicationWeimar
Year of Publication1972
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Dresden 1937 17
Authorn. a.
TitleLucas Cranach der Ältere und der Jüngere. Ausstellung von Werken aus dem Besitze der Staatlichen Gemäldegalerie und dem Staatlichen Kupferstichkabinet
Place of PublicationDresden
Year of Publication1937
Show Literature
Cat. Dresden 1896 632
AuthorKarl Woermann
TitleKatalog der Königlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Dresden. Grosse Ausgabe
Place of PublicationDresden
Year of Publication1896
Link https://archive.org/details/katalogderknigli1896geml/page/n3/mode/2up
Show Literature
Cat. Dresden 1887 614
AuthorKarl Woermann
TitleKatalog der Königlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Dresden. Grosse Ausgabe
Place of PublicationDresden
Year of Publication1887
Link https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/89861/5
Show Literature
Cat. Dresden 1862 No. 1766
AuthorJulius Hübner
TitleVerzeichniss der Königlichen Gemälde-Gallerie zu Dresden. Mit einer historischen Einleitung. Notizen über die Erwerbung und Angaben der Bezeichnung der einzelnen Bilder
Place of PublicationDresden
Year of Publication1862
Show Literature
Schäfer 1860 1407, 1408
AuthorWilhelm Schäfer
TitleDie Königliche Gemälde-Gallerie im Neuen Museum zu Dresden. Beschreibung und Erläuterung sämmtlicher Gemälde nach der Ordnung der Räume begleitet von kunsgeschichtlichen und kritischen Erinnerungen
Volume1 - 3
Place of PublicationDresden
Year of Publication1860
Show Literature
  • Three Pairs of Lovers, after 1537

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • overall
  • reverse
  • irr
  • other
  • other

Documents

Technical studies

19.09.2012Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

Underdrawing

Results

Drawing material:

Technique:

- Only a few lines deviate from the painted contours and can be considered as underdrawing, for example on the bridge of the nose of old man on the left and the double line of the nostril of the young man on the right.[1]

[1][Schölzel, Exhib. Cat. Chemniz 2005, 402]

[Böhme, Schölzel, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, 2012]

  • photographed by Christoph Schölzel
  • photographed by Alexandra Böhme

2005Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography

Underdrawing

Only a few lines deviate from the painted contours and can be considered as underdrawing, for example the on bridge of the nose of old man on the left and the double line of the nostril of the young man on the right.

Framing

New frame: gilded stucco frame in the style of the 18th and 19th century Dresden gallery frames

[Schölzel, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 402]

26.10.2003Scientific analysis

  • Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology

Support

The most recent annual ring is from 1524

[Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 406]

  • analysed by Peter Klein

2003Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • reverse

Support

- 3.6 cm thick

- original surface on the reverse

- four horizontally aligned planks

- the heartwood is on the reverse

- a rebate runs around all four sides

- marks from a block plane

- a split has been covered with an application of tow

[Schlegel, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 402]

Condition Reports

Date2005

Support:

  • joins reinforced with blocks and bars

  • marks from a saw

  • marks from nails employed to fix the panel in a frame

  • the panel exhibits a convex warp

  • woodworm damage (open channels on the joins)

Painted surface:

  • retouching along the joins, on small paint loss along the edges of the craquelée on the white shirt of the man in the centre

-thick, yellowed varnish

[Schlegel, Schölzel, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 402]

Conservation History

Date2005

-in preparation for a Cranach exhibition (frame)

see pdf

Date1970

[GGAM, Abt. Restaurierung, Meldung][1]

[1][Schölzel, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 402]

see also pdf

Date1886

[Sächs. HStADD, 13458 SKD, GG Nr. 8, Bd. 5, Bl. 94, 97][1]

[1][Schölzel, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 402]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Three Pairs of Lovers', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SKD_GG1936/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Three Pairs of Lovers', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SKD_GG1936/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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