The Crucifixion with donor and family

Title

[cda 2021]

Painting on softwood (?)

Medium

Painting on softwood (?)

[unpublished treatment report, Cologne University of Applied Sciences,1997]

Christ is shown in a frontal view on the roughly hewn cross at the centre of the image, raised high above the ground with his head bowed, touching his right shoulder. Blood flows from the wounds in his face and side down to his ankles. His loincloth flatters in a

At the left a beardless man in a fur-trimmed black coat kneels in prayer and behind him three boys in white robes with red stripes - evidently shrouds - are also shown praying.

Two women kneel in prayer at the right. One of the two women is wearing an opulent fur-trimmed coat and a veil-like bonnet covers her head. The other is wearing a black coat and bonnet and a white band covers the lower part of her face. Seven girls kneel in front of the two women, dressed in white shrouds like the boys on the opposite side of the picture. Red stripes decorate four of their robes.

Behind the figures a flat plain with bushes and a winding river is visible beneath the expansive sky. Above the afterglow there is a strip of dark brown sky and above it the storm clouds are outshone by the sunset. (abridged)

[J. Müller; St. Trinitatis online database, accessed 30.06.2021]

Attribution: Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attribution

Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder

[unpublished treatment report, Cologne University of Applied Sciences,1997]

Production date: 1546

Production date

1546

[dated]

Dimensions: Dimensions of support: 121 x 82 x 2.7 cm

Dimensions

Dimensions of support: 121 x 82 x 2.7 cm
[unpublished treatment report, Cologne University of Applied Sciences,1997]

Signature / Dating: Artist's insignia on the stone beneath the cross: serpent with dropped wings and dated '1546', in black paint

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia on the stone beneath the cross: serpent with dropped wings and dated '1546', in black paint

Owner: Private Collection
Repository

CDA ID: DE_PStTL-Lost_NONE-PStTL001
FR (1978) Nr.: FR-none
Persistent Link: https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_PStTL-Lost_NONE-PStTL001/

Provenance

acquired in the 19th century by the Propsteikirche St. Trinitatis, Leipzig
evacuated during World War 2, since then registered as missing
[St. Trinitatis online database, accessed 30.06.2021]
about 1997 in a private collection
[unpublished conservation report, Cologne University of Applied Sciences,1997]

Research History / Discussion

This painting is evidently an epitaph, commissioned by an anonymous donor for his deceased wife (the woman with the band covering the lower half of her face) and children. Gurlitt’s hypothesis (Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler des Königreiches Sachsen, Stadt Leipzig, kath. Trinitatiskirche), that the panel was originally located in the Nikolaikirche, Leipzig and is the work identified by Stetner with the number 679 and associated with the Moritz Buchner memorial (=1544) is incorrect as Moritz Buchner was only married once and just had four sons.

[J. Müller; St. Trinitatis online database, accessed 30.06.2021]

The Crucifixion with donor and family, 1546

Images

Conservation History

Date1997

urgent treatment necessary, acute paint flaking
optical reintegration of some disturbing retouches

[website Grass-Restaurierung, accessed 30.06.2021]

conservation treatment by Diana Grass

Date1920 - 1937

The painting underwent a comprehensive conservation treatment in Dresden between the 1st and 2nd world war.

[St. Trinitatis online database, accessed 30.06.2021]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author: <author's name>, 'The Crucifixion with donor and family', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_PStTL-Lost_NONE-PStTL001/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author: 'The Crucifixion with donor and family', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_PStTL-Lost_NONE-PStTL001/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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