Christ and the Adulteress

Christ and the Adulteress

Title

Christ and the Adulteress

[National Gallery of Canada, revised 2017]

Painting on beech wood

Medium

Painting on beech wood

[National Gallery of Canada, revised 2017]
[Klein report, 1981]

'Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.' With these words Jesus rebukes the men who have gathered to demand that he condemn her and sanction her death. The punishment for adultery was death by stoning, and the man in armour

'Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.' With these words Jesus rebukes the men who have gathered to demand that he condemn her and sanction her death. The punishment for adultery was death by stoning, and the man in armour already grasps a rock. The figures press inward - a jumble of expressive faces and glances, with the accusers to the left and Christ's disciples to the right. Jesus, who holds the woman's arm in a protective gesture, is the calm centre of the tumult. A celebration of divine mercy, this was a favourite subject, and Cranach and his workshop painted many variations on it.

[National Gallery of Canada, revised 2017]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Younger

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[National Gallery of Canada, revised 2017][Cat. Ottawa 1987, 87-88][Exhib. Cat. Cambridge, Mass.1936, No. 104][Le Schonix 1894, 170]

Lucas Cranach the Younger

'?'
[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, No. 365]
[Perrier 1873, 368]

Production dates
1533
1535 - 1540

Production dates

1533

[dated (visible beneath overpaint)]

about 1532

[Exhib. Cat. Cambridge, Mass. 1936, No. 104]

1535 - 1540

[Cat. Ottawa 1987, 87-88][Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, No. 365]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 84 x 118 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 84 x 118 cm

  • [National Gallery of Canada, revised 2017]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia at the top left (now concealed by overpaint): winged serpent facing right and dated '[1]533'

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia at the top left (now concealed by overpaint): winged serpent facing right and dated '[1]533'

  • [National Gallery of Canada, revised 2017]

Owner
Musée des beaux-arts du Canada/National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Repository
Musée des beaux-arts du Canada/National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Location
Ottawa
CDA ID
CA_MBAC_3694
FR (1978) Nr.
FR365
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/CA_MBAC_3694/

Provenance

  • before 1785 in the collection of 'Canon Keneifat' (dates unknown), Antwerp
  • by 1785 with William Hadfield (1761 - c. 1810) & Burrowes (dates unknown), London
  • 05.10.1785 offered by Greenwood, London, lot no. 78 as the work of Quentin Massys, result unknown
  • by 1828 in the collection of J. Taylor (dates unknown), London
  • 23.06.1828 offered by Phillips, London, lot no. 501 as the work of Cranach the Elder, bought by 'Trower,' likely Walter John Trower (1804-1877), UK for £80.17
  • by 1868 in the collection of Henry Frederic Holt (1813-1871), Surrey, UK
  • 19-21.06.1871 offered by Christie's, London, lot no. 591 as the work of Cranach the Elder, bought by Everard & Company, London & Brussels, for £23.2
  • by 1873 with Léon Gauchez (1825¿1907), Brussels and Paris
  • 5-8.05.1873 offered as part of the collection of the fictitious 'Marquis de La Rocheb...,' by Pillet, Paris, lot no. 48 as the work of Cranach the Younger, purchased by 'Charlet' (dates unknown) for 4,000 FF
  • by 1880 in the collection of John Bell (1806-1880), North Park, Glasgow
  • 24-25.06.1881 offered by Christie's, London, lot no. 737 as the work of Cranach the Elder, purchased by Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers (1827-1900), UK for £52.10
  • by 1928 by descent to his grandson, Captain George Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers (1890-1966), Hinton St. Mary, Dorset, UK
  • 13.07.1928 offered by Christie's, London, lot no. 106 as the work of Cranach the Elder, purchased by the Savile Gallery, London for £1,785
  • 1929 purchased by the National Gallery of Canada
    [National Gallery of Canada, revised 2017]

Exhibitions

Leeds, City Art Gallery 1868, no. 510
London, Savile Gallery 1929, no. 10
Cambridge (Mass.) 1936, no. 104 [?]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Pettch 2010 11
AuthorA. Pettch
TitleRethinking Pitt-Rivers: Analysing the Activities of a Nineteenth-century Collector.
Place of Publicationn. a.
Year of Publication2010
Link http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/rpr/index.php/article-index/12-articles/202-tracked-items-from-king-johns-house/
Show Literature
Cat. Ottawa 1987 87-88
EditorM. Laskin, Jr., M. Pantazzi
TitleCatalogue of the National Gallery of Canada. European and American Painting, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts. Vol. 1: 1300-1800.
Place of PublicationOttawa
Year of Publication1987
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 365
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Cambridge, Mass. 1936 104
AuthorCharles L. Kuhn
EditorGermanic Museum, Cambridge, Mass.
TitleCatalogue of the Germanic Museum exhibition of German paintings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Lent from American collections
Place of PublicationCambridge Mass.
Year of Publication1936
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. London 1929 10
AuthorC. J. Holmes
TitlePaintings by Old Masters, [London, Savile Gallery]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1929
Show Literature
Le Schonix 1894 170
AuthorR. Le Schonix
TitleNotes on Archæology in Provincial Museums. No. xxxvii: The Museums at Farnham, Dorset, and at King John's House, Tollard Royal
JournalThe Antiquary
Issue30 (July - December 1894)
Year of Publication1894
Pages170
Show Literature
Perrier 1873 Pl. unnumbered
AuthorH. Perrier
TitleDe Hugo van der Goes à John Constable, ii.
JournalGazette des Beaux-Arts
IssueApril 1873
Year of Publication1873
Pages368-369
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Leeds 1868 510
Authorn. a.
TitleNational Exhibition of Works of Art, [Leeds, City Art Gallery]
Place of PublicationLeeds
Year of Publication1868
Show Literature
Nuechterlein [forthcoming]
AuthorJeanne Nuechterlein
Publicationin Juliet Simpson, ed., Primitive Renaissances. Northern European and Germanic Art
Place of Publicationn. a.
Show Literature
  • Christ and the Adulteress, 1533

Images

Compare images
  • overall

Documents

Technical studies

2017Technical Examination

Framing

Frame: running moulding inlaid with marquetry. Germany, late 16th - first half 17th century

[National Gallery of canada, revised 2017]

28.10.1992Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Dendrochronology / identification of wood species

Support

Identification of wood species: beech wood

Youngest annual ring: 1530

[Klein Bericht, 28.10.1992]

  • examined by Peter Klein

1981Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology

Support

Identification of wood species: beech wood

Technical Notes

In 1981 Dr. Peter Klein examined the panel. The youngest annual ring dates to 1530.

Board i not measured

Board ii 133 rings: 1511–1379

Board iii 113 rings: 1515–1403

Board iv 126 rings: 1530–1402

Board v 163 rings: 1527–1364

[National Gallery of Canade, revised 2017]

  • analysed by Peter Klein

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Christ and the Adulteress', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/CA_MBAC_3694/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Christ and the Adulteress', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/CA_MBAC_3694/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

Help us to improve the Cranach Digital Archive.

Please contact us, if you have noticed a mistake.