The Infant Christ with St John

The Infant Christ with St John

Title

The Infant Christ with St John

[cda 2020]

Painting on oak

Medium

Painting on oak

[Kunstmuseum Bern online database, accessed 28.03.2024]

This panel shows the infants Christ and St John the Baptist on a thin strip of pebbly ground against a black backdrop. Christ stands at the right on top of a skull and serpent, symbolizing the defeated devil and death. He supports the cross against his left shoulder and with

This panel shows the infants Christ and St John the Baptist on a thin strip of pebbly ground against a black backdrop. Christ stands at the right on top of a skull and serpent, symbolizing the defeated devil and death. He supports the cross against his left shoulder and with his right hand he blesses St John who kneels before him with the Lamb of God at his side. Both boys have short blond curly hair and St John is wearing his characteristic fur cloth.

[cda 2020]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Younger
Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Younger

[Kunstmuseum Bern online database, accessed 28.03.2024]

Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger

[Lostart database, accessed 11.06.2020]

Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte, Bildarchiv FotoMarburg: Microfiche-Scan mi06607c02]

Production date
about 1540

Production date

about 1540

[Kunstmuseum Bern online database, accessed 28.03.2024]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 35.7 x 25.7 cm

Dimensions

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia at the right edge: serpent with elevated wings, facing left; in yellow paint

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia at the right edge: serpent with elevated wings, facing left; in yellow paint

Inscriptions and Labels

Reverse of the panel:

  • top left: label, in part scraped off (c. 1.9 x 1.9 cm): '[illegible]'

  • top centre: rectangular …

Inscriptions and Labels

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • Reverse of the panel:

    • top left: label, in part scraped off (c. 1.9 x 1.9 cm): '[illegible]'
    • top centre: rectangular label, printed (3.5 x 10.5 cm): [Inventory label Kunstmuseum Bern]
    • top centre, centre right, centre left and centre: fragmmentary remains of four red seals, remnants of a paper label above

  • [Kunstmuseum Bern online database, accessed 28.03.2024]

Owner
Kunstmuseum Bern
Repository
Kunstmuseum Bern
Location
Bern
CDA ID
CH_KMBe_G18-007
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/CH_KMBe_G18-007/

Provenance

  • probably 1540 - n. d. Lucas Cranach the Younger (*04.10.1515, Wittenberg, †25.01.1586, Wittenberg) [artist] [1]

  • n.d.

  • probably 15.10.1938 Baroness of Saint André, Königsbach Castle, Königsbach-Stein [2][3]

  • probably purchase in 15.10.1938 by Hildebrand Gurlitt (*15.09.1895, Dresden, †09.11.1956, Oberhausen), Hamburg/Dresden/Aschbach/Düsseldorf [art dealer][3]

  • 09.11.1956 - 31.01.1968 Helene Gurlitt (*01.08.1895, Dresden, †31.01.1968, Munich), Düsseldorf/Munich [art dealer], inheritance [4]

  • 31.01.1968 - 06.05.2014 Cornelius Gurlitt (*28.12.1932, Hamburg, †06.05.2014, Munich), Munich/Salzburg [heir to the art collection], inheritance [5]

  • 06.05.2014 Stiftung Kunstmuseum Bern (1879), inheritance [6]

[Research status 19.12.2017]

[1] Attribution.

[2] Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte, Bildarchiv Foto Marburg, no. 376.

[3] BArch, N 1826/159, accounts book 1937 - 1944, p. 10.

[4] Kunstmuseum Bern, Archive, Legat Cornelius Gurlitt, written bequest, Cornelius Gurlitt, Kornwestheim, 09.01.2014, will; Kunstmuseum Bern, Archiv, Legat Cornelius Gurlitt, written bequest , Cornelius Gurlitt, Kornwestheim, 21.02.2014, codicil.

[5] Kunstmuseum Bern, Archive, Legat Cornelius Gurlitt, written bequest, Cornelius Gurlitt, o. O., o. D.; Kunstmuseum Bern, Archive, Legat Cornelius Gurlitt, written bequest, Benita Gurlitt, Kornwestheim, 22.04.1994.

[6] Kunstmuseum Bern, Archive, Legat Cornelius Gurlitt, written bequest, Cornelius Gurlitt, Kornwestheim, 09.01.2014, will; Kunstmuseum Bern, Archive, Legat Cornelius Gurlitt, written bequest, Cornelius Gurlitt, Kornwestheim, 21.02.2014, codicil.

[Kunstmuseum Bern online database, accessed 28.03.2024]

  • The Infant Christ with St John, about 1540

Images

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Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

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<author's name>, 'The Infant Christ with St John', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/CH_KMBe_G18-007/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
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