Christ as the Man of Sorrows

The frame is not original, but is based on ag contemporary frame.

Description: coniferous wooden members stained black with a cornice profile and rounded battens, which cross at the mitres (gilded). Gold coloured round battens with gold inserts, the bottom batten is champfered and painted black, with an engraved label 'Lucas Cranach d. Ä. 1472–1555'

68.5 x 52 x 10.5 cm

[Museum im Roselius-Haus, revised 2013]

- an underdrawing is not readily visible; some chalk lines defining form are visible in Christ’s left hand

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich, cda 2012]

The long, free lines of the underdrawing delineating contours are visible to the naked eye. These were executed with a brush in a diluted medium e.g. ink made with soot-black.

[Exhib. Cat. Bremen 2009, No. 23]

Beech wood panel consisting of two planks:

Plank 1 = 111 annual rings (1530-1420)

Plankt 2 = 41 annual rings (1465-1425)

Plank 1 is from the same tree as the wood used for the following panels:

- 'Duke Johann Ernst of Saxony' (1521-1533), Cranach workshop, [Berlin] Inv. No. II 55;

DE_smbGG_55-2 _FR-none

- 'Dr. Martin Luther (1483-1546)', Cranach workshop, [Berlin] Inv. No. 619 [possibly incorrect]; DE_smbGG_617_FR314-315F [possibly also: Philipp Melanchthon, Berlin, Inv. No. 619; DE_smbGG_619_FR314-315F

- 'The Ill-matched Pair', Cranach workshop, [Berlin] Inv. No. 1606; DE_smbGG_1606_FR-none

- 'Martin Luther', Fürstenberg-Sammlungen, Donaueschingen, Inv. No. 727;

- 'Electors of Saxony', (left and right wings), Hamburger Kunsthalle, Inv. No. 606, DE_HKH_HK-606a_FR338; DE_HKH_HK-606c_FR338

- 'Lucretia', Gemäldegalerie Berlin, Inv. No. 1832, DE_smbGG_1832_FR239

- 'Eve', Chicago, Inv. No. 1935.295

- 'The Departure of the Apostles', (Planks II and III), Stockholm, Inv. No. 254

- 'Portrait of a Man' (Planks I and II), Kansas City, Inv. No. 31-112, US_NAMAKC_31-112_FR415

The most recent annual ring is from the year 1531.

The cradle consists of two moveable horizontal members. Five blocks differing in size have been glued onto both the right and left side. Further blocks were glued above the join on the lower part of the panel.

With beech wood the entire cross-section is normally used and only the bark is removed therefore it may be assumed that the tree was felled no earlier than 1531. assuming the wood was seasoned for at least two years then painting can not have been created before 1533.

[ Prof. Dr. Peter Klein: Report of dendrochronological examination of the panel 'Christ as the Man of Sorrows' (L. Cranach, Inv. No. B 56) from 8.9.2003, Archive of the Kunstsammlungen Bötcherstrasse, Bremen]

The text, applied in gold with a brush, is extensively abraded and illegible up to the first line of the quotation. Even infrared reflectography carried out by Ingo Sandner in 2007 did not help to decipher it. It is not original and was probably added in the 17th century.

[Iris Ritschel: Christus als Schmerzensmann, no date, type written manuscript in the archive of the Kunstsammlungen Böttcherstraße, Bremen]

• numerous fills and retouches, glazed overpaint along the join

• the original varnish has not been preserved; the thick, glossy varnish is a later addition

[ Petra Klier (Hamburg): Documentation, 1992, Archive of the Kunstsammlungen Böttcherstraße, Bremen ]

• 1982 by Renate Kant, Hamburg

[ Iris Ritschel: Christus als Schmerzensmann, no date, type written manuscript in the archive of the Kunstsammlungen Böttcherstraße, Bremen]

• at least one restoration treatment was carried out before 1934 (according to the written correspondance from the restorer Herbert Wernicke to Ludwig Roselius from 15.4.1934 two varnish layers were removed from the recto of the painting in 1934 and small retouches were renewed. However the glazes of the flesh paint also appear to have been added, because they intersect the contours of the body in places and overlap the dark background. Accordingly there must have been an ealier intervention before the restoration by Herbert Wernicke)

• 1934 by Herbert Wernicke, Bremen

[ Iris Ritschel: Christus als Schmerzensmann, no date, type written manuscript in the archive of the Kunstsammlungen Böttcherstraße, Bremen]