Friedrich III the Wise, Elector of Saxony

Friedrich III the Wise, Elector of Saxony

Title

Friedrich III the Wise, Elector of Saxony

[cda 2014]

Painting on limewood (thinned and cradled)

Medium

Painting on limewood (thinned and cradled)

[Brigitte Reineke, DHM 2016]

wood

[copy of a page from Weltkunst 1 July 1988; Koepplin Archive]

A half-length portrait of Friedrich the Wise shown in three-quarter profile facing right against a blue background. The elector is wearing a black beret and a fur-trimmed gown. His beard is greyish-black.

[Görres, cda 2015]

Attribution
Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attribution

Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Brigitte Reineke, DHM 2016] [cda 2014]

Production date
about 1525 - 1528

Production date

about 1525 - 1528

[copy of a page from Weltkunst 1.Juli 1988 in the Archive D. Koepplin]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 40.6 x 26 x 0.5 cm (thinned; cradled)

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 40.6 x 26 x 0.5 cm (thinned; cradled)

  • Dimensions of painted surface: 40.5 x 25.6 cm

  • Dimions including frame: 62.5 x 47.5 x 8 cm (glazed)

  • [Ulrike Hügle, Mathias Lang, DHM 2014-2016]

  • 40 x 25.8 cm

  • [handwritten annotation D. Koepplin on the reverse of a photograph in the D. Koepplin Archive]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia left edge: serpent (with elevated wings)

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia left edge: serpent (with elevated wings)

Inscriptions and Labels

Stamps on the cradle: empel auf der Parkettierung:
Stamp top left, illegible
Inscription on the second member: '7736'
Stamp …

Inscriptions and Labels

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • Stamps on the cradle: empel auf der Parkettierung:

  • Stamp top left, illegible

  • Inscription on the second member: '7736'

  • Stamp with the imperial eagle and the swastika at the right edge, further text illegible

  • Remnants of a stamp, illegible

  • [Brigitte Reineke, DHM 2016]

Owner
Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin
Repository
Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin
Location
Berlin
CDA ID
DE_DHM_Gm1988-705
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_DHM_Gm1988-705/

Provenance

  • 1937 auction Galerie Moos, Geneva
  • until 1945? [owned by Hasso von Veltheims, Schloss Ostrau (at present the time frame cannot be more precisely defined; not mentioned in the inventory list of works retrieved from the castle in 1945)]
  • 1954 auction Galerie Charpentier, Paris from the collection of Baron von Cassel [1]
  • 1984 german private collection
  • 15.01.1987 Sotheby's New York, Lot 138
  • 3.-4.06.1988 Galerie Gerda Bassenge, Berlin, No. 4/27
  • purchased on the art market 1988
    [1] Friedländer Archive 1958 confirms that in 1954 the painting was in a private collection, Paris
    [2]handwritten note by Koepplin on the reverse of a photograph
    [3]handwritten note by Friedländer (1938) attributing the painting to Lucas Cranach
    [Brigitte Reineke, DHM 2016]

Exhibitions

Berlin 2012, No. 15
Minneapolis 2016

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. Florence 2017 76 under no. 7
EditorFrancesca de Luca, Giovanni Maria Fara
Title I volti della Riforma. Lutero e Cranach nelle collezioni medicee [Uffizi, Florence]
Place of PublicationFlorence, Milan
Year of Publication2017
Exhib. Cat. Minneapolis 2016 47
EditorStiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Stiftung Luthergedenkstätten in Sachsen-Anhalt, Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha, The Morgan Library & Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
TitleMartin Luther. Schätze der Reformation [Minneapolis Institute of Art, 10.2016-01.2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota; The Morgan Library & Museum, 10.2016-01.2017, New York; Pitts Theology Library der Emory University, 10.2016-01.2017, Atlanta, Georgia]
Place of PublicationDresden
Year of Publication2016
Exhib. Cat. Berlin 2012 15
EditorStiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin
TitleIm Atelier der Geschichte. Gemälde bis 1914 aus der Sammlung des Deutschen Historischen Museums [Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, 25 Octr 2012 - 21 April 2013]
Place of PublicationDresden
Year of Publication2012
Grimm 1994 30 Fig. A10
AuthorClaus Grimm
TitleLucas Cranach 1994
Publicationin Claus Grimm, Johannes Erichsen, Evamaria Brockhoff, eds., Lucas Cranach. Ein Maler-Unternehmer aus Franken, Exhib. Cat. Kronach 1994
SeriesVeröffentlichungen zur bayerischen Geschichte und Kultur
Volume26
Place of PublicationAugsburg, Regensburg
Year of Publication1994
Pages18-43
Weltkunst 1988
Authorn. a.
TitleAuktionen
JournalWeltkunst: Zeitschrift für Kunst und Antiquitäten
Issue13/1988
Year of Publication1988
Pages1957-1958

Research History / Discussion

06.1984 seen by D. Koepplin: ,good painting, perhaps somewhat overcleaned'

[handwritten annotation D. Koepplin on the reverse of a photograph in the D. Koepplin Archive]

  • Friedrich III the Wise, Elector of Saxony, about 1525 - 1528

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • overall
  • overall
  • overall
  • reverse
  • reverse
  • irr
  • x_radiograph
  • x_radiograph
  • uv_light
  • uv_light
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • conservation
  • other

Technical studies

02. 2015Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology

optical assessment and radial/tangential section examined employing transmitted light microscopy

  • analysed by Mathias Lang
  • analysed by Ulrike Hügle
  • analysed by Martina Homolka
  • analysed by Antje Liebers

02. 2015Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • UV-light photography
  • uv_light
  • photographed by Ulrike Hügle

02. 2015Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • X-radiography

[Christoph Schmidt, Gemäldegalerie Berlin; Feb. 2015]

  • created by Christoph Schmidt

02. 2015Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Instrumental material analysis

Pigment identification employing X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy [see attached pdf]

At all the points measured lead was detected (probably a lead based pigment in the ground or the imprimatura).

Blue: 1, 7 (background): copper based pigment (probably azurite), lead white

Red: 3, 4 (flesh paint: cheeks ; lips): some vermilion, lead white

Brown: 5, 6 (fur): probably ochre, lead white, some vermilion

Black: 2, 8, 9 (hat; signature, coat) probably carbon black

[Jens Bartoll/SPSG Berlin, Feb. 2015]

  • analysed by Jens Bartoll

02. 2015Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr
  • photographed by Mathias Lang

2014 - 2016Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • X-radiography
  • UV-light photography
  • Stereomicroscopy
  • Instrumental material analysis
  • Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology
  • uv_light
  • reverse

Support

Limewood

The support has been thinned and consists of two vertically joined boards with the following dimensions (from left to right):

Plank 1: 9.7 cm (top); 10 cm (bottom)

Plank 2: 16.2 cm (top); 16 cm (bottom)

The x-radiograph shows that the panel was cover with tow (in a horizontal direction).

Ground and Imprimatura

The ground application is a pale white chalk admixture that extends to the edges of the panel at the left and right as well as the bottom. The top and bottom edges may have been trimmed slightly. At the top left a barb and incised line is visible. Amounts of lead detected across the entire painting using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy suggest the presence of an imprimatura containing lead white. Another imprimatura is not visible.

Underdrawing

Lines are visible on the mouth/lips, the hair, the hands, left of the beret - possibly a freehand drawing or traced from a pre-existing design; the painted version deviates slightly from the underdrawing (corrections were made to the hands).

Paint Layers and Gilding

PIGMENTS: (X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy)

At all the points measured lead was detected (probably a lead based pigment in the ground or the imprimatura).

Blue: 1, 7 (background): copper based pigment (probably azurite), lead white

Red: 3, 4 (flesh paint: cheeks ; lips): some vermilion, lead white

Brown: 5, 6 (fur): probably ochre, lead white, some vermilion

Black: 2, 8, 9 (hat; signature, coat) probably carbon black

The painting has a white ground. The sequence of paint application began with the background, followed by the areas of black paint and finally the flesh paint - the hands and the face. In the background the paint was applied rapidly and for the the most part vertically with a larger brush. It appears streaky with impasto brushstrokes and the underlying ground is occasionally visible. Modelling was achieved through the application of highlights and glazes in the shadows over a midtone. Particular striking is the texture in the beard that extends in the opposite direction over the neighbouring section, in this case from the dark clothing to the face. It would appear that linear shapes were painted from the black paint areas into the face and contrary to the usual workshop practice light beard hairs were then painted into the black paint. A compact application of glazes was employed to achieve the texture of the fur. The present varnish is not original.

Framing

Not original frame

Profiled batten with a cove, dark stained wood

62.5 cm x 47.5 cm x 8 cm (glazed)

  • examined by Ulrike Hügle
  • examined by Mathias Lang

Condition Reports

Date2016

  • conservation
  • reverse

Support:

The reverse of the panel was thinned and a cradle was applied (2 cm thick including cradle). The top and bottom edges may have been trimmed slightly. The right plank exhibits deformations in the lower area. There are splits in the panel: some splits caused by tension, and a split extending from the top to the bottom of the panel is visible in the area of the join.

Paint Layers:

A network of cracks with distinct single lines extends over the entire painting. In general the the paint layers exhibit a more widespread common cupping. This feature was probably caused by the tow appplied to the support beneath the paint and ground layers. glazes are very well preserved. There are isolated paint losses (particularly near the edges of the panel) and retouches spread across the painting.

The present varnish is not original.

  • examined by Ulrike Hügle
  • examined by Mathias Lang

Conservation History

Date1993

After purchase in 1993 the very yellowed varnish and the discoloured retouches were removed. There is no documentation available regarding earlier interventions.

  • conservation treatment by Mathias Lang

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Friedrich III the Wise, Elector of Saxony', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_DHM_Gm1988-705/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Friedrich III the Wise, Elector of Saxony', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_DHM_Gm1988-705/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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