St Leopold

Description:

St Leopold is depicted as a pendant to a St Jerome on the right panel: his armor is partially covered by a cloak with a fur lining; on his head he wears an embellished hat worked in velvet and fur (ducal hat). He holds a lance in his right hand and in his left hand he presents the Austrian coat-of-arms (on which the fifth eagle is missing).

The saints, that were conceived together, stand on stony ground against a blue background. The uniform background and the inscriptions indicate that the paintings are pendants, and that they perhaps served as the inner wings of a small altarpiece, which no longer exists.

Iconography: Margrave Leopold II. of Babenberg (1073-1136) was canonised thanks to the intervention of Emperor Friedrich III. in the year 1485. The regional implication is substantially limited to Vienna and Lower Austria. Emperor Maximilian, who had the saint’s remains transferred, also had St Leopold portrayed as one of his ancestors in the “Ehrenpforte”. This pictorial type coined by Dürer can already be found in the woodcut ‘The Patron Saints of Austria’: as an old man with a beard, a ducal hat, in full regalia with the eagle emblem, many precious stones, a scepter and an ermine coat, on the right a shield combines the red-white-red Bindenschild (Babenberg coat-of-arms) and Lower Austrian coat-of-arms (Lerchenwappen (Larch coat-of-arms)).[1] The St Leopold by Cranach is orientated towards the widely disseminated figural type by Dürer of an older but powerful ruler with a curly beard and hair. Usually clad in an ermine cloak and with a ducal hat he is easily identifiable as a ruler, whereas in Cranach’s little painting St Leopold appears more atypical and can ultimately only be identified on the basis of the inscription and the coat-of-arms.

Research History: The small images of the saints from the clerical treasury have been a permanent fixture in the first room of the Early German School since the earliest installation of the Imperial Picture Gallery in the Belvedere.[2] The clearly legible characters of the signature and the date were already observed by Schuchardt and were taken as a point of reference for further research: he noted an orientation towards Dürer, which may be accounted for by the cooperation on the drawings in the margin of Emperor Maximilian’s prayer book in the same year.[3] Hereafter it was repeatedly pointed out that early dated paintings by Cranach, like the ones discussed here, are rare.[4] The catalogue entry from 1928 suspects, with reference to the concurrent work for Emperor Maximilian’s prayer book, that the winged altarpiece was commissioned by an Austrian because of the depiction of St Leopold.[5] Schade suggests that it could have been a present from Friedrich the Wise to Emperor Maximilian. He refers to a representation of a silver statue of St Jerome in the Wittenberg Heiltumsbuch from 1509 as an exemplary depiction of the saint: inverted but the position of the lion is identical.[6] The representation of St Leopold was evidently not among Cranach’s repertoire of forms as was observed in the catalogue of the Lower Austrian Landesausstellung from 1983: the ducal hat and the cloak differ from the prevaling depictions of the saint at that time.[7]

Whereas the gallery catalogue from 1928 and later publications by the museum classify the panels as ‚autographic‘ paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Schade remarked that they were less meticulously executed panels from the Cranach workshop.[8]

Discussion:

Both panels have been preserved in their original size but the original frame was lost at some unknown date. On the panels there is no indication of the original assembly and consequently the designated use. The reverse of both panels exhibit a very old possibly original black coating. This side was presumably not intended for viewing, as it would otherwise feature marbling or some other embellishment. Therefore it remains open whether the panels served as wings of a small altar or whether they had another function.

[Tüchler, Hoppe-Harnoncourt, Kunsthistorisches Museum, 2013][Translation, Smith, cda 2013]

[1] Schoch, Rainer; Mende, Matthias; Scherbaum, Anna, et al. (eds.): Albrecht Dürer, das druckgraphische Werk. Band II: Holzschnitte und Holzschnittfolgen, Munich 2002, p. 386; Stift Klosterneuburg, Amt der Niederösterreichischen Landesregierung (ed.): Der Heilige Leopold, Landesfürst und Staatssymbol. Niederösterreichische Landesausstellung Stift Klosterneuburg, 30. March-3. November 1985 (Catalogue, Niederösterreichisches Landesmuseum, n.F., No. 155), Vienna 1985, compare Cat. 233 and 234, as well as pp. 94-95.

[2] Mechel, Christian von: Verzeichnis der Gemälde der kaiserlich königlichen Bilder Gallerie in Wien […] nach der von ihm auf allerhöchsten Befehl im Jahre 1781 gemachten neuen Einrichtung. Vienna 1783, p. 240, No. 29.

[3] Schuchardt, Christian: Lucas Cranach des Aeltern Leben und Werke. Erster Theil. (3 Bände) Leipzig 1851, p. 10, 66.

[4] Scheibler, Ludwig: Über altdeutsche Gemälde in der kaiserlichen Galerie zu Wien. In: Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, 1887, Jg. 10, p. 271–306, p. 297.

[5] Kunsthistorisches Museum: Katalog der Gemäldegalerie. 1. Auflage (Führer durch die Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, 8), Vienna 1928, p. 56, No. 1453.

[6] Werner Schade in: Kroll, Renate; Flügel, Katharina (ed.): Kunst der Reformationszeit. Ausstellung. Martin-Luther-Ehrung 1983 der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. 26.8.-13.11.1983. Berlin-Ost 1983, p. 80, Cat. B5, Fig. B5. see Jahn, Johannes: Lucas Cranach d. Ä. 1472 – 1553. Das gesamte graphische Werk mit Exempeln aus dem graphischen Werk Lucas Cranach d. J. und der Cranachwerkstatt, Munich 1972, Fig. p. 487.

[7] Stift Klosterneuburg, Amt der Niederösterreichischen Landesregierung (ed.): Der Heilige Leopold, Landesfürst und Staatssymbol. Niederösterreichische Landesausstellung Stift Klosterneuburg, 30. März-3. November 1985 (Katalog des Niederösterreichischen Landesmuseums, n.F., No. 155), Vienna 1985, No. 231, Fig. 36.

[8] „Autographic“ among others in Kunsthistorisches Museum: Katalog der Gemäldegalerie. 1. Auflage (Führer durch die Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, 8), Vienna 1928, p. 56, No. 1453 und Schütz, Karl (1972): Lucas Cranach der Ältere und seine Werkstatt. Jubiläumsausstellung museumseigener Werke 1472 - 1972. Vienna 1972, p. 19, Cat. 3, Fig. 1. In contrast Werner Schade in: Kroll, Renate; Flügel, Katharina (ed.): Kunst der Reformationszeit. Ausstellung. Martin-Luther-Ehrung 1983 der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. 26.8.-13.11.1983. Berlin-Ost 1983, p. 80, Cat. B5, Fig. B5 and Schade, Werner: Die Malerfamilie Cranach, Dresden 1974, p. 85.