St Barbara

Title

St Barbara

[Cat. Kassel 1997, 59]

Painting on limewood

Medium

Painting on limewood

[Cat. Kassel 1997, 59]

St Barbara is positioned almost in the central axis, however with a gently inclined head and slightly retracted right shoulder she turns to the left. The vertical direction of the folds in the skirt and the tower (including its elongated window) contribute emphatically to the layout. At the same time the torsion of the saint is additionally emphasised by the bulging contours of the drapery on the left side and the diagonal curvature of the curtain hem below the saint's left hand.

[Cat. Kassel 1997, 60]

Attributions: Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attributions

Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder	[Cat. Kassel 1997, 59]
Lucas Cranach the Elder	[Exhib. Cat. Gotha 2015, No. 5] [Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, No. 31]
Hans Baldung Grien	[Cat. Kassel 1819, 13]

Production dates: about 1510
about 1504

Production dates

about 1510	[Cat. Kassel 1997, 59]
about 1504	[Flechsig 1900 B, 81]
about 1510 - 1515	[Exhib. Cat. Gotha 2015, No. 5]

Dimensions: Dimensions of support: 74.1 x 27.2 x 0.2 cm (bottom slightly trimmed)

Dimensions

Dimensions of support: 74.1 x 27.2 x 0.2 cm (bottom slightly trimmed)
[Cat. Kassel 1997, 59]

Signature / Dating: None

Inscriptions and Labels

Reverse of the panel:

label from the Staatl. Museen, Kassel
in blue colouring pencil '12'

[Cat. Kassel 1997, 59]

Inscriptions and Labels

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

Reverse of the panel:
- label from the Staatl. Museen, Kassel
- in blue colouring pencil '12'
[Cat. Kassel 1997, 59]

Owner: Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel
Repository: Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel
Location: Kassel

CDA ID: DE_MHK_GK13
FR (1978) Nr.: FR031
Persistent Link: https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_MHK_GK13/

Connected Works

Provenance

1827 acquired at the auction of the Campe collection, Leipzig; then it was attached to the All Saints Altar by Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Kassel, GK 30).
[Cat. Kassel 1997, 59]

Exhibitions

Basel 1974, no. 594b
Kassel 2015, no. 5

Literature

Reference on page

Catalogue Number

Figure / Plate

Exhib. Cat. Gotha, Kassel 2015

100, 101

Pl. p. 101

Editor	Julia Carrasco, Justus Lange, Benjamin D. Spira, Timo Trümper, Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha
Title	Bild und Botschaft. Cranach im Dienst von Hof und Reformation, [Gotha, Herzogliches Museum; Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Schloss Wilhelmshöhe]
Place of Publication	Heidelberg
Year of Publication	2015

Show Literature

Heydenreich 2007 A

42, 102, 124, 206, 345, 394

Author	Gunnar Heydenreich
Title	Lucas Cranach the Elder
Place of Publication	Amsterdam
Year of Publication	2007
Link	https://lucascranach.org/application/files/6116/2097/3099/Heydenreich_2007_Lucas_Cranach_the_Elder.pdf

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Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005

391, 393 Fn. 6

under No. 30

Editor	Harald Marx, Karin Kolb, Ingrid Mössinger
Title	Cranach Anlässlich der Ausstellung Cranach vom 13. November 2005 bis 12. März 2006 in den Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. Eine Ausstellung in Kooperation mit der Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Place of Publication	Cologne
Year of Publication	2005

Show Literature

Exhib. Cat. Prague 2005

46 (English version 22)

under no. 1

Editor	Obrazárna Pražského hradu, Kaliopi Chamonikola
Title	Pod znamením okrídleného hada. Lucas Cranach a ceské zeme. Under the winged Serpent. Lucas Cranach and the Czech Land
Place of Publication	Prague
Year of Publication	2005

Show Literature

Cat. Kassel 1997

59-64

Author	Anja Schneckenburger-Broschek
Editor	Staatliche Museen Kassel
Title	Altdeutsche Malerei. Die Tafelbilder und Altäre des 14. bis 16. Jahrhunderts in der Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister und im Hessischen Landesmuseum Kassel. Bestandskatalog Staatliche Museen Kassel
Place of Publication	Munich
Year of Publication	1997

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Cat. Kassel 1996

Editor	Bernhard Schnackenburg
Title	Gesamtkatalog Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. Staatliche Museen Kassel
Place of Publication	Mainz
Year of Publication	1996

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Cat. Kassel 1982

16-17, 56, 62

Author	Anja Schneckenburger-Broschek
Title	Die Altdeutsche Malerei. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Kassel
Place of Publication	Kassel
Year of Publication	1982

Show Literature

Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979

031

Author	Max J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
Editor	G. Schwartz
Title	Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of Publication	Basel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication	1979

Show Literature

Levenson 1978

221

Author	J. A. Levenson
Title	Jacopo de Barbari and the Northern Art of the Early sixteenth century
Place of Publication	New York
Year of Publication	1978

Show Literature

Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976

682

No. 594b

Author	Dieter Koepplin, Tilman Falk
Title	Lukas Cranach. Gemälde, Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik
Volume	1, 2
Place of Publication	Basel, Stuttgart
Year of Publication	1974
Link	http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-diglit-104522

Show Literature

Cat. Kassel 1969

Author	E. Herzog
Title	Die Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Kassel
Place of Publication	Hanau
Year of Publication	1969

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Cat. Kassel 1958

Author	Heinrich Vogel
Title	Katalog der Staatlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Kassel
Place of Publication	Kassel
Year of Publication	1958

Show Literature

Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932

030

Author	Max J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
Title	Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of Publication	Berlin
Year of Publication	1932
Link	http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/friedlaender1932

Show Literature

Cat. Kassel 1929

18, 99

Author	K. Luhmer
Title	Katalog der Staatlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Kassel
Place of Publication	Berlin
Year of Publication	1929

Show Literature

Cat. Kassel 1913

13, 58

Author	G. Gronau
Title	Katalog der Königlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Cassel. Amtliche Ausgabe
Place of Publication	Berlin
Year of Publication	1913

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Michaelson 1902

34-35

Author	Hedwig Michaelson
Title	Lukas Cranach der Ältere. Untersuchung über die stilistische Entwicklung seiner Kunst
Place of Publication	Leipzig
Year of Publication	1902

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Flechsig 1900 B

81, 85, 88, 130

Author	Eduard Flechsig
Title	Tafelbilder Lucas Cranachs d. Ä. und seiner Werkstatt
Volume	1, 2
Place of Publication	Leipzig
Year of Publication	1900
Link	http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/flechsig1900tafeln

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Cat. Kassel 1888

Author	Oskar Eisenmann
Title	Katalog der Königlichen Gemälde-Galerie zu Cassel
Place of Publication	Kassel
Year of Publication	1888
Link	https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101058641414&view=1up&seq=1

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Cat. Kassel 1877

Author	K. Chr. Aubel
Title	Verzeichniß der in dem Lokale der Neuen Gemälde-Gallerie zu Cassel befindlichen Bilder
Place of Publication	Kassel
Year of Publication	1877

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Cat. Kassel 1845

Author	K. Chr. Aubel
Title	Auszug aus dem Verzeichnisse der Kurfürstlichen Gemälde-Sammlung
Place of Publication	Kassel
Year of Publication	1845

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Cat. Kassel 1819

Author	Ernst Friedrich Ferdinand Robert
Title	Versuch eines Verzeichnisses der Kurfürstlich Hessischen Gemälde-Sammlung
Place of Publication	Kassel
Year of Publication	1819
Link	https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN879181362?tify=%7B%22pages%22%3A%5B5%5D%2C%22view%22%3A%22info%22%7D

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Research History / Discussion

The central part of the altar was probably a Virgin and Child, represented either as a sculpture in a shrine or as a painting. A corresponding example of this iconographical constellation within Cranach's work can be found in the depiction of the Virgin on the central panel in Tuscon, Arizona University of Arizona Gallery, which is flanked by Catharine on the left wing panel and Barbara on the right one (Brne, Moravská gálerie v Brne; Friedländer/Rosenberg 1979, No. 46, 47). A reconstruction reveals the central panel must have been c. 74 cm high and c. 46 cm wide. These dimensions almost correspond with those of the Virgin by Cranach in the Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (71.5 x 44.2 cm; Friedländer/Rosenberg 1979, No. 30). In addition the Virgin on the central panel was - like the female saints on the wing panels - probably represented against a flat background without landscape details.

[Cat. Kassel 1997, 63-64]

Particular striking on the panels in Kassel is the style of the female saints' haloes, which is very rare in Cranach's oeuvre and suggests a specific request from the commissioner. A further panel depicting the Virgin and the infant St John is similar with regards the dimensions and the rendition of the haloes. [1] This panel is dated about 1512, so that - if they should be related - would require a slightly later dating of the two wing panels. However large discrepancies with regards the painterly quality suggest that the central panel may have been a copy.

[1] oil on wood, 75.9 x 59.4 cm, about 1512, private collection, Exhib. Cat. Frankfurt 2007, No. 17

[Lange, Exhib. Cat. Gotha, Kassel 2015, 100]

The infrared reflectogram of the reverse of the panel depicting St Catharine reveals that the figure of the Virgin from an Annunciation scene was originally painted here. On the basis of deduction it may be assumed that the figure of an angel must have adorned the reverse of the other panel. [1] (compare figs. 1 and 2) A panel depicting the angel Gabriel in Dortmund is similar in format and date (about 1515). [2] The less usual composition of the angel appearing to the Virgin from the right also appears in a similar manner on the the external wing panels of an Altarpiece by the Cranach workshop in the village church of Klieken in Sachsen-Anhalt, which is dated about 1515.[3]

[1] Now this panel is only 0.2 cm thick as the painted reverse was separated at some stage before the Campe collection was auctioned. The panel depicting St Catharine is 0.5-0.7 cm thick [Cat. Kassel 1997, 59]

[2] Oil on wood, 69 x 27 cm, Dortmund, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte (Loan from the Federal Republic of Germany)

[3] Cat. Halle 2009, 12-15, the central element consists of a sculptural representation of the Virgin and two assistants.

[Lange, Exhib. Cat. Gotha, Kassel 2015, 100]

St Barbara, about 1510

Images

Technical studies

1997Technical examination / Scientific analysis

Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology
Infrared reflectography

Support

- limewood acording to a report by Dr. P. Klein, Hamburg (25.02.1988)

- one board, vertical grain

- the original painted verso of the panel was separated with a saw

- the rebate has been trimmed to a width of 0.1 cm to 0.5 cm at the top, right and left, and not preserved at the bottom

- the panel has been trimmed slightly at the bottom

Ground and Imprimatura

- the barbe has been retained in part at the top, right and left edges, but not at the bottom

Underdrawing

- an underdrawing is not visible in the infrared reflectogram

[Cat. Kassel 1997, 59]

examined by Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel

Condition Reports

Date1997

the sky is slightly abraded in the upper third, remnants of old overpaint (left), an old varnish and probably an original dark glaze; apart from the abrasion and the retouching the panel is in good condition

[Cat. Kassel 1997, 59]

Conservation History

Date1997

consolidation of the paint layers

[Curatorial files, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Kassel]

Date1988

technical examination and conservation treatment

[Curatorial files, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Kassel]

Date1956

conservation treatment after return from Vienna

[Curatorial files, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Kassel]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author: <author's name>, 'St Barbara', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_MHK_GK13/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author: 'St Barbara', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_MHK_GK13/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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