Charity

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[http://www.opac-.fabritius.be; 20.01.2011]

The panel depicts Charity, the personification of motherly love and altruism, as a seated female figure, breastfeeding one of her children. The figure sits on a grey stone block, bearing the inscription 'CARITAS'. Her body is enveloped in a transparent veil. One of her five children stands beside her on the stone block and offers grapes to his siblings. The two boys and the girl already have grapes in their hands. They stand on the grey stony ground, that is contained within a hedge. This frames the figures and at the same time offers a view over an expansive landscape. At the top edge of the picture a single branch from an apple tree projects into the pictorial space.

Attribution: Lucas Cranach the Younger

Attribution

Lucas Cranach the Younger

[http://www.opac-fabritius.be; 20.01.2011]

Production date: about 1540

Production date

about 1540

[Heydenreich 2010 A, 72]

Dimensions: Dimensions of support: 63.5 x 57.6 cm (including additions)

Dimensions

Dimensions of support: 63.5 x 57.6 cm (including additions)
[http://www.opac-fabritius.be; 20.01.2011]

Signature / Dating: Artist's insignia on the right edge of the flagstone: winged serpent with elevated wings, facing to the left; in brownish black paint

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia on the right edge of the flagstone: winged serpent with elevated wings, facing to the left; in brownish black paint
[Kunsthistorisches Museum, revised 2011]

Inscriptions and Labels

left side of the flagstone:
'CARITAS' Reverse, on the cradle: - centre:
printed paper label: 'MUSEES ROYAUX DES BEAUX-ARTS …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

- left side of the flagstone:
'CARITAS'

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

Reverse, on the cradle: - centre:
printed paper label: 'MUSEES ROYAUX DES BEAUX-ARTS DE BELGIQUE / Auteur / Sujet / Inventaire no. [printed], Cranach, Lucas [le jeune] / La charite / 4849 [handwritten in black ink]'

Owner: Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels
Repository: Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels
Location: Brussels

CDA ID: BE_MRBAB_4849
FR (1978) Nr.: FR-none
Persistent Link: https://lucascranach.org/en/BE_MRBAB_4849/

Literature

Reference on page

Catalogue Number

Figure / Plate

Sandner, Heydenreich, Smith-Contini 2015

134, 136, Fn. 71, 72

Fig. 6a

Author	Gunnar Heydenreich, Ingo Sandner, Helen Smith-Contini
Title	Veränderungen beim Unterzeichnen in Cranachs Werkstatt und die Arbeitsweise von Sohn Lucas
Publication	in Elke A. Werner, Anne Eusterschulte, Gunnar Heydenreich, eds., Lucas Cranach der Jüngere und die Reformation der Bilder
Place of Publication	Munich
Year of Publication	2015
Link	https://lucascranach.org/application/files/5215/6337/7366/Heydenreich_Sandner_Smith-Contini_2015_-_Unterzeichnung.pdf
Pages	128-141

Show Literature

Heydenreich 2010 A

72, 79

61-63

Author	Gunnar Heydenreich
Title	Reisende Bilder im Wandel
Publication	in Guido Messling, ed., Die Welt des Lucas Cranach. Ein Künstler im Zeitalter von Dürer, Tizian und Metsys, Exhib. Cat. Brussels
Place of Publication	Brussels
Year of Publication	2010
Pages	66-79

Show Literature

Koepplin 2007 B

66-68

Author	Dieter Koepplin
Title	Cranachs Bilder der Caritas im theologischen und humanistischen Geiste Luthers und Melanchthons
Publication	in Bodo Brinkmann, ed., Cranach der Ältere [Exhib. Cat. Frankfurt]
Place of Publication	Ostfildern
Year of Publication	2007
Pages	63-79

Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

'Identified by Koepplin 2008/09, 78, as FR 1978, 406D, although the dimensions deviate dramatically.'

[Heydenreich 2010 A, 79, Fn.38]

Charity, about 1540

Images

Technical studies

01. 2010Technical examination / Scientific analysis

Infrared reflectography

Underdrawing

‘The generously curved lines of the underdrawing have been executed in black ink with a pen. In style it is quite different from definite attributed works by Cranach the Elder. A similar underdrawing was observed on the painting Venus and Cupid (after 1937, FR 396) in Otterlo. The question as to whether this is an underdrawing by Lucas Cranach the Younger or one of the workshop assistants must however remain unanswered at this stage.’

[Heydenreich 2010 A, 72]

Underdrawing

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Materials:

- dry drawing material, dark chalk

Type/Ductus:

- freehand underdrawing

- thin lines

Function:

- only roughly binding for the final painted version; lines delineate contours and describe facial features; no representation of volume

Deviations:

- numerous alterations made during the painting process; changes (e.g. Charity’s face, the of the suckling infant)

INTERPRETATION

Attribution:

- Lucas Cranach the Younger?

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich, cda 2012]

photographed by Gunnar Heydenreich
photographed by Freya Maes

04.04.2007Technical examination / Scientific analysis

Infrared reflectography

photographed by Freya Maes

Condition Reports

Date2010

the panel has been thinned and a cradle was attached

'[...] In the past the support of this painting was damaged. Along the top and bottom edge of the painting one or more planks of an unknown width are missing. A number of decades ago the missing parts were replaced with battens of 7 and 9 cm width and the lost image was reconstructed. The pears hanging on an apple tree are not Cranach's creation but that of a restorer. An infrared-reflectograph shows the later addition [...].'

[Heydenreich 2010 A, 72]

written by Gunnar Heydenreich

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author: <author's name>, 'Charity', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/BE_MRBAB_4849/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author: 'Charity', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/BE_MRBAB_4849/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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