Democritus

Democritus

Title

Democritus

[cda 2019]

Painting on hardwood

Medium

Painting on hardwood

[Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012, 418-425, no. 110]

The philosopher is depicted as a half-length figure, turned slightly to the left against a green background. He is wearing a brown coat with a yellow lining and wide sleeves that exhibit an elaborate arrangement of folds. He touches a brown sphere with his fingers as if wishing to spin

The philosopher is depicted as a half-length figure, turned slightly to the left against a green background. He is wearing a brown coat with a yellow lining and wide sleeves that exhibit an elaborate arrangement of folds. He touches a brown sphere with his fingers as if wishing to spin it. Democritus is represented as a bald headed, old man with a white beard and hooked nose. His smile reveals an incomplete row of teeth.

[see: Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012, 418-425, no. 110]

Attribution
Franz Timmermann

Attribution

Franz Timmermann

[Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012, 418-425, No. 110]

Production date
1538

Production date

1538

[dated]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 26 x 20.1 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 26 x 20.1 cm

  • Dimensions including frame: 35.9 x 29.9 cm

  • [Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012, 418-425, no. 110]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia at the top left: 'FT' and dated '1538'

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia at the top left: 'FT' and dated '1538'

Inscriptions and Labels
  • above the sitter's head: 'DEMOCRITVS'
  • at the bottom edge: 'QVOD ME SIC TREMVLO, CERNIS RIDERE CACHINNO / STVLTICIAE EST HOMINV(M); …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

    • above the sitter's head: 'DEMOCRITVS'
    • at the bottom edge: 'QVOD ME SIC TREMVLO, CERNIS RIDERE CACHINNO / STVLTICIAE EST HOMINV(M); MAXIMA CAVSA / MIHI.'

  • [Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012, 418-425, no. 110]

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • on the reverse: - adhesive label with a stamp: 'Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel' and the inventory no.: 'B35'

  • on the frame:

    • adhesive label from the restorer Müller-Jung with information about the restoration

  • [Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012, 418-425, No. 110]

Owner
Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel
Repository
Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel
Location
Wolfenbüttel
CDA ID
DE_HABW_B35
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_HABW_B35/

Provenance

  • unknown
  • first recorded about 1870 in an inventory by Thies
    [Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012, 418-425, no. 110]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012 418-425 No. 110 Figs. 110-110.2
AuthorMichael Wenzel
TitleDie Gemälde der Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel
Place of PublicationWiesbaden
Year of Publication2012
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

The two panels depicting Democritus and Heraclitus as ‚laughing and crying‘ philosophers are a remarkable testimony to the status of humanist subjects, as well as the reception of antiquity in Germany in the first half of the 16th century. As far as we know these portraits are the earliest and for some decades the only representations of this subject in Germany to have survived. Although they were published in 1904 in ‘Bau- und Kunstdenkmälern der Stadt Wolfenbüttel’ the paintings from Wolfenbüttel are not mentioned in any other previous scholarly literature.

[Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012, 418-425, No. 110]

  • Democritus, 1538

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • overall
  • reverse

Technical studies

Support

- a protective coating was applied to the reverse of the panel

- the edges of the panel is chamfered

Framing

- blackish brown, fluted profile with wave moulding decorating both the interior and exterior.

[Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012, 418-425, No. 110]

Condition Reports

  • fine craquelé, mainly with vertical cracks in the direction of the grain

  • the joint on the left side of the panel has been filled and retouched

  • numerous fills and retouches, particularly along the crack formation and at the edges

[Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012, 418-425, No. 110]

Conservation History

Date22.03.1969

'1969 conservation treatment by Heinz Müller-Jung'

[Cat. Wolfenbüttel 2012, 418-425, No. 110]

  • conservation treatment by Heinz Müller-Jung

Support made from the same tree

Heraclitus
  • Heraclitus, 1538
  • DE_HABW_B63
  • Painting
  • Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Democritus', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_HABW_B35/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Democritus', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_HABW_B35/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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