Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar

Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar

Title

Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar

[cda 2018]

Painting on beech wood

Medium

Painting on beech wood

[Cat. Coburg 2018, 170]

Bust-length portrait of Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1530-1573), against a blue background, facing to the left.

Attribution
Master I.S.

Attribution

Master I.S.

[Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, revised 2018] [Cat. Coburg 2018, 170]

Production date
about 1560

Production date

about 1560

[Teget-Welz 2018, 221, 225] [Cat. Coburg 2018, 170]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 46.5 x 33.8 x 0.75 cm (original panel)/ 2.15 cm (including horizontal battens)

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 46.5 x 33.8 x 0.75 cm (original panel)/ 2.15 cm (including horizontal battens)

  • [Cat. Coburg 2018, 170]

Signature / Dating

Monogram at the left edge above the sitter's shoulder: 'IS' (linked)

Signature / Dating

  • Monogram at the left edge above the sitter's shoulder: 'IS' (linked)

  • [Cat. Coburg 2018, 170]

Inscriptions and Labels
  • top left:
    'N i7 Iohann Wilhelm,/Dux. Sax:'
    [Cat. Coburg 2018, 170] Reverse of the panel: - adhesive label: …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

    • top left:

  • 'N i7 Iohann Wilhelm,/Dux. Sax:'

  • [Cat. Coburg 2018, 170]

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • Reverse of the panel: - adhesive label: HKA and KVC

    • handwritten: 'Joh: Wilhelm/hzS'

  • [Cat. Coburg 2018, 170]

Owner
Veste Coburg Kunstsammlungen
Repository
Veste Coburg Kunstsammlungen
Location
Coburg
CDA ID
DE_KSVC_M031
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_KSVC_M031/

Provenance

  • this painting is one of a series originally from Gotha and belonged to the original art cabinet established by Duke Ernst the Pious, the patriarch of the Ernestine Saxony-Gotha family line and ordered that Friedenstein castle be built
  • an inventory from 1638 lists the paintings in the lower salon of the residency in Weimar
  • 1644 listed in the 'Taffelstuben' of the 'Gothaer Kaufhaus'
  • 1656 listed in the earliest surviving inventory from Friedenstein castle 'Inventarium über die Kunst Cammer'
  • removed from Friedenstein castle sometime between 1856 and 1876; the painting was last recorded in Gotha in Georg Rathgeber's 'Beschreibung der Herzoglichen Gemälde-Gallerie zu Gotha [...]' [1835] as part of a series then consisting of 27 portraits
    [Teget-Welz 2018, 210, 211]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Cat. Coburg 2018 170, 171 36 Pl. p. 171
AuthorKlaus Weschenfelder
TitleCranach in Coburg. Gemälde von Lucas Cranach d.Ä., Lucas Cranach d.J., der Werkstatt und des Umkreises in den Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg
Place of PublicationRegensburg
Year of Publication2018
Show Literature
Teget-Welz 2018 209-228
AuthorManuel Teget-Welz
TitleVon Gotha in die Ganze Welt. Die Fürstenserie des Monogrammisten IS
Publicationin Klaus Weschenfelder, ed., Cranach in Coburg. Gemälde von Lucas Cranach d.Ä., Lucas Cranach d.J., der Werkstatt und des Umkreises in den Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg
Place of PublicationRegensburg
Year of Publication2018
Pages209-228
Show Literature
Weschenfelder 2018 A 14, 18
AuthorKlaus Weschenfelder
TitleCranach in Coburg.
Publicationin Klaus Weschenfelder, ed., Cranach in Coburg. Gemälde von Lucas Cranach d.Ä., Lucas Cranach d.J., der Werkstatt und des Umkreises in den Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg
Place of PublicationRegensburg
Year of Publication2018
Pages7-23
Show Literature
Rathgeber 1835 191 f. 006
AuthorGeorg Rathgeber
TitleBeschreibung der Herzoglichen Gemälde-Galerie zu Gotha
Place of PublicationGotha
Year of Publication1835
Link https://dhb.thulb.uni-jena.de/receive/ufb_cbu_00011801
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

A series of portraits depicting noble men by the monogrammist IS. These paintings were without doubt originally conceived as a series. This theory is supported by various visual clues, including their similar dimensions and uniform backgrounds. In addition all the sitters are shown as half-length figures in three quarter profile with their hands positioned in front of their bodies. Six of the portraits are signed with the monogram IS. The series was probably created about 1560.

[Teget-Welz 2018, 209]

  • Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar, about 1560

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • reverse

Technical studies

2018Technical Examination

Support

- beech wood

- two vertically aligned and butt-joined planks. Plank I: 29.4 cm; plank II: 4.4 cm. The join is covered with tow. All four edges of the support are sloped (the left edge after the new coating). The edge of the panel is smooth whereas the centre still exhibits the marks of a blockplane. There are remnants of a coating along all four sides.

Ground and Imprimatura

- chalk ground

[Cat. Coburg 2018, 170]

Condition Reports

Date2018

Support:

  • the support exhibits a concave warp

  • the join has opened by c. 9 cm from the bottom edge and has been partially reglued, plank II is very warped

  • the upper horizontal batten has been removed, remnants of glue are still visible

  • large old areas of damage at the top right and left (on plank II)

  • the left edge was sloped after the new coating was applied

Paint layers:

  • the image has been extensively repainted; very few areas exhibit the distinctive fine craquelé typical of the other paintings from the series; further fills and retouches from a later treatment are visible in the flesh paint, at the bottom edge and along the join

Varnish:

  • very few remnants of varnish are visible

[Cat. Coburg 2018, 170]

Conservation History

Date1978

Restored

[Cat. Coburg 2018, 170]

  • conservation treatment by Richard Harzenetter

Date1950

Restored

[Cat. Coburg 2018, 170]

  • conservation treatment by Josef Wuttke

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_KSVC_M031/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_KSVC_M031/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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