The design [of this painting], with Christ flanked by the Virgin on one side and Saint John the Evangelist on the other, originated with Lucas Cranach the Elder and was adapted at least three times by his son. The earliest manifestation of this type is the 1524 panel in the
The design [of this painting], with Christ flanked by the Virgin on one side and Saint John the Evangelist on the other, originated with Lucas Cranach the Elder and was adapted at least three times by his son. The earliest manifestation of this type is the 1524 panel in the Augustiner Museum, Freiburg im Breisgau [DE_AMF-MFFF_M3-M], depicting a landscape with a three-quarter length seated Christ in his tomb flanked by the Virgin and Saint John with a host of cherubs in the sky. In his second interpretation of the theme, executed ten years later, he removed the landscape setting, thus heightening the emotional impact of the composition [DE_DM_NONE-02].
Lucas Cranach the Younger's first experimentation with this composition, like [DE_HMR_KN1992-8] are close to his father's 1534 composition although the figures are brought even closer to the pictorial plane and the frieze of angels is reduced to a few small praying cherubs in each corner. The present composition is clearly closely related to this version but it comes closest both compositionally and stylistically to a later- circa 1540 -version by Cranach the Younger in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg [DE_HKH_HK-708]. At some point in its history this panel was likely cut down, and thus much of the lower register of the composition is no longer visible, but it is almost certain that as in the Hamburg version, Christ was originally seated on the just visible edge of his tomb with his hands loosely folded across his lap. Still clearly discernible, however, is his tortured expression and his bleeding body. Mary and St. John flank Christ, with the former weeping into her robe and the latter with his hands clasped in prayer. Apart from the edge of the tomb the background is one of unrelieved darkness without the angels featured in the previous compositions.
[Sotheby's online database: http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/master-paintings-sculpture-day-sale-n09461/lot.425.html?locale=en; accessed 18.03.2019]
- Attribution
- Lucas Cranach the Younger
Attribution
Lucas Cranach the Younger | [Sotheby's online database: http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/master-paintings-sculpture-day-sale-n09461/lot.425.html?locale=en; accessed 18.03.2019] |
- Production date
- about 1540
Production date
about 1540 | [Sotheby's online database: http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/master-paintings-sculpture-day-sale-n09461/lot.425.html?locale=en; accessed 18.03.2019] |
- Dimensions
- Dimensions of support: 31.5 x 73 cm
Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 31.5 x 73 cm
[Sotheby's online database: http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/master-paintings-sculpture-day-sale-n09461/lot.425.html?locale=en; accessed 18.03.2019]
- Signature / Dating
Artist's insignia at the upper left: serpent with dropped wings, facing left; in yellow paint
Signature / Dating
Artist's insignia at the upper left: serpent with dropped wings, facing left; in yellow paint
[cda 2019]
- Owner
- Private Collection
- Repository
- Private Collection
- CDA ID
- PRIVATE_NONE-P248
- FR (1978) Nr.
- FR-none
- Persistent Link
- https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P248/