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| CDA ID / Inventory Number | HU_HCBC |
| Persistent Link | https://lucascranach.org/HU_HCBC |
| FR (1978) No. | FR011 |
| The Martyrdom of St Catherine | [cda 2011] |
| Lucas Cranach the Elder | [Fenyö 1955] |
| 'Unbekannter Meister' [Takács 1909, 453] | |
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| about 1508 | [Heydenreich 2007 A, 65] [Grimm 1998, 69] [Grimm 1994, 35, 299] |
| about 1508/1509 | [Messling , Exhib. Cat. Brussels 2010, 118] [Koepplin, Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974, Bd. II, 552-53] |
| about 1505 | [Brinkmann, Exhib. Cat. Frankfurt 2007, 1932] [Friedländer, Rosenberg 1978, 68, No. 11] |
| about 1506-1509 | [Schade 1974, 37] |
| about 1504 | [Fenyö 1955, 68-71] |
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| Owner | Ráday Library of the Reformed Church, Budapest |
| Repository | Ráday Library of the Reformed Church, Budapest |
| Location | Budapest |
| Reference on Page | Catalogue Number | Figure/Plate | |
| Exhib. Cat. Paris 2011 | 118-119 | ||
| Exhib. Cat. Brussels 2010 | 118-119 | 20 | |
| Exhib. Cat. Madrid 2007/2008 | 361 | ||
| Heydenreich 2007 A | 63, 65, 67, 68, 80, 86, 99, 101, 102, 105, 108, 112, 113, 119, 122, 161, 174, 182, 189, 205, 216, 298, 316, 317, 323 | ||
| Exhib. Cat. Frankfurt 2007 | 132-133 | 11 | p. 133 |
| Exhib. Cat. Prague 2005 | 54 (English version 25) | under no. 5 | |
| Heydenreich 1998 A | 188-189, 193, 196 | Figs. 21.6, 21.7, 21.11, 21.12, 21.18 | |
| Exhib. Cat. Eisenach 1998 | 114-117 | No. 13.3 | Figs. 13.3, 13.3a-c |
| Sandner 1998 B | 87, 89, 91, 92 | ||
| Grimm 1998 | 69-73 | Figs. 9.2, 9.5, 9.8 | |
| Grimm 1994 | 31, 35 | Fig. A19 | |
| Schade, Schuttwolf 1994 | 18 | ||
| Schade 1994 B | 13 | ||
| Exhib. Cat. Kronach 1994 | 299-301, 371 | 120a | Fig. 120a |
| Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1983 | 77 | ||
| Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 | 68 | No. 11 | Fig. 11 |
| Strieder 1975 | 170 | ||
| Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974 | 89, 552-553, 743 | No. 414 | Pl. 5 |
| Schade 1974 | 37 | ||
| Végh 1972 | Fig. 23 | ||
| Perger 1966 | 76, Fn. 22 | ||
| Stange 1964 | 138 | ||
| Fenyö 1955 | 68-71 | ||
| Takács 1909 | 453 | ||
| “However, it seems that this borrowing was mainly one-sided and Durer barely responded to the challenge,127 whereas Cranach pursued the artistic competition even while he was court painter in Wittenberg. Durer painted the Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand Christians for the Saxon Elector Friedrich III between 1507 and 1508.128 Cranach finished the Budapest Martyrdom of St Catherine (fig. 40)129 of approximately the same size and proportion at about the same time. It probably relates to a further meeting of both artists. As the features of the wooden support for the Martyrdom of St Catherine differ noticeably from those of other Wittenberg works (see p. 65), it seems likely that the panel was produced outside the workshop, perhaps even in Nuremberg.130 This assertion is supported by the observation that Cranach probably used motifs of the Heller Altarpiece, which were being produced at the same time in Durer ’s workshop (1507/09).131 In addition, Cranach gave this work special attention in terms of composition and technical execution. The preliminary design on the panel appears to have been drawn in a concentrated way and with shadows partially deepened by hatching (fig. 87). This is reminiscent of Durer ’s urge for precision.132 Subsequently, Cranach applied the reddish imprimatura .133 In the course of the painting process, the composition was corrected again; the colour, plasticity as well as the materiality were modeled with an extra ordinary sensibility. Some passages of paint were accentuated in a graphic way with a pointed brush, which again reveals a direct relation to Dürer’ s meticulous painting (figs 273, 278).” [Heydenreich 2007 A, 318] |
| 'The panel in Budapest was first identified by Fenyö 1955 as an early major work by Cranach and ranks with its confident underdrawing and both assured and careful jewel-like rendering among the highest quality panels by Cranach, in which workshop participation is unlikely. The date of the painting however remains controversial. Fenyö and most recently Brinkmann suggest 1504/05, during the initial period of Cranach's activity at the Wittenberg court, whereas Koepplin and Grimm advocate a date about 1508/09, directly before or after his journey to the Netherlands. The relationship of the panel to the 'Martyrdom of St Catharine' from 1506 in Dresden (FR 014, Fig. 78), which depicts the subject less dramatically and more flat, is frequently addressed within this context. Not only the soft manner of blending paint in the vegetation and the accomplished spatial setting of the central group of the henchmen and the saints, for which the jumble of falling men serves as a backdrop suggest a creation date after this painting; but also the affinity of the two central figures to the woodcut from about 1508/09 depicting 'The Beheading of St John the Baptist' (No. 67) points in this direction. Furthermore it is remarkable that the underdrawing of the henchman is even closer to the figure of his colleague in the woodcut. In addition to the printed graphic prototypes by Dürer and the Monogrammist MZ (Nos. 18 and 19) shown here, Cranach may, as suggested by Grimm, also have known the depiction of the martyr on the inner side of the right wing of Dürer’s Heller-Altar, created in Nuremberg between 1507 and 1509. Cranach was in the free imperial city (freie Recihsstadt) in January and July of 1508 from where he set off to the Netherlands. Of interest in this respect is Heydenreich’s observation that the construction of the panel differs from those created in Wittenberg during these years, so the painting could have been created on a journey. Unfortunately the origin of this important painting is unknown before 1791, when it was acquired in Leipzig as a work by Dürer.’ [Messling , Exhib. Cat. Brussels 2010, 118-119] |
