Jesus blessing the Children

Jesus blessing the Children

Title

Jesus blessing the Children

[cda 2013]

Painting on copper plate

Medium

Painting on copper plate

[Schloss Gottorf, revised 2013]

Christ is depicted in three-quarter profile, facing to his left and standing at the centre of a half-length figural group. He supports a small infant on his left arm and with his right hand he touches another one held by its mother. The donors are positioned either side of him:

Christ is depicted in three-quarter profile, facing to his left and standing at the centre of a half-length figural group. He supports a small infant on his left arm and with his right hand he touches another one held by its mother. The donors are positioned either side of him: on the left a man, his deceased first wife and son, wearing a shroud and on the right presumably his second wife. The donor touches the right arm of Jesus. On the right-hand side of the painting there are three mothers with infants, one of them is breastfeeding. Another mother and child is shown in the background on the left, as well as four disciples tiered one behind the other.

[Dittmeyer, Schloss Gottorf 2013]

Attribution
Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger

Attribution

Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger

[Schloss Gottorf, revised 2013]

Production date
about 1560

Production date

about 1560

[Schloss Gottorf, revised 2013]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 57 x 75.8 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 57 x 75.8 cm

  • [Schloss Gottorf, revised 2013]

Signature / Dating

none

Inscriptions and Labels

at the top: 'VND SIE BRACHTEN KINDLIN ZV IM DAS ER SIE ANRVRETE. MARCVS AM X'

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

  • at the top:

  • 'VND SIE BRACHTEN KINDLIN ZV IM DAS ER SIE ANRVRETE. MARCVS AM X'

Owner
Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig
Repository
Schloss Gottorf, Landesmuseum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte, Schleswig
Location
Schleswig
CDA ID
DE_SHLM_1989-480
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SHLM_1989-480/

Provenance

  • 1989 acquired for the museum at an auction by the Holsten-Brauerei Hamburg AG

[Schloss Gottorf, revised 2013]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Ahuis 2017 258-261
AuthorFerdinand Ahuis
TitleElisabeth Cruciger, geb. von Meseritz - Luthers 'liebe Els'
JournalLutherjahrbuch: Organ der internationalen Lutherforschung
Place of PublicationGöttingen
Issue84 (2017)
Year of Publication2017
Pages224-262
Show Literature
Sandner, Heydenreich, Smith-Contini 2015 134, Fn. 41
AuthorGunnar Heydenreich, Ingo Sandner, Helen Smith-Contini
TitleVeränderungen beim Unterzeichnen in Cranachs Werkstatt und die Arbeitsweise von Sohn Lucas
Publicationin Elke A. Werner, Anne Eusterschulte, Gunnar Heydenreich, eds., Lucas Cranach der Jüngere und die Reformation der Bilder
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2015
Link https://lucascranach.org/application/files/5215/6337/7366/Heydenreich_Sandner_Smith-Contini_2015_-_Unterzeichnung.pdf
Pages128-141
Show Literature
Wolf 2015 175
AuthorAnja Wolf
TitleDie 'Taufe Christi' von 1556. Einblicke in die Arbeitsweise Lucas Cranachs des Jüngeren
Publicationin Elke A. Werner, Anne Eusterschulte, Gunnar Heydenreich, eds., Lucas Cranach der Jüngere und die Reformation der Bilder
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2015
Pages168-179
Show Literature
Fleischhauer 2005 74 Fig. 5
AuthorCarsten Fleischhauer
TitleDer Wandel der Jenseitsvorstellungen durch die Reformation
Publicationin Herwig Guratzsch, Claus von Carnap-Bornheim, eds. Wege ins Jenseits. Mit Walküren zu Odin, mit Engeln zu Gott Exhib. Cat. Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf
Place of PublicationNeumünster
Year of Publication2005
Show Literature
Cat. Schleswig 1997 294 No. 145 Fig. p. 127
EditorHeinz Spielmann
TitleSchloß Gottorf und seine Sammlungen. Renaissance und Barock
SeriesNeue Bildhefte
Place of PublicationSchleswig
Year of Publication1997
Show Literature
Bünsche 1990
AuthorBernd Bünsche
TitleEine Kupfertafel der Cranach-Werkstatt. Ikonographisches - Maltechnik - Restaurierung.
JournalRestauro
Issue96/3
Year of Publication1990
Pages202-209
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

After a comparison with other portraits by Lucas Cranach the Younger the male figure in black on the left-hand side of the painting could be identified as Dr. Caspar Cruciger the Elder (1504-1548), a theologian from Wittenberg and a companion of both Luther and Melanchtons.

Cruciger was first married to Elizabeth of Meseritz, who died in 1535. In 1536 he married Apollonia Günterode, who died in 1557. The women in black with portrait-like features could be identified as his two wives. The one on the left, shown in profile, was probably added to the composition later, which explains her rather cramped position. Accordingly this could be Apollonia, who died in 1557, the year when the painting was created. The young boy in the foreground and the infant presented to Jesus on a black cloth could be Cruciger’s deceased sons.

Cruciger had two sons and one daughter from his first marriage and one son and three daughters from his second. Drees presumes that the four young women depicted with infants represent his daughters and that the youngest boy at the top left is his third son Caspar Cruciger the Younger.

The panel may originally have been intended for the parish church of Wittenberg where Cruciger was buried in 1548.

The subject of 'Christ Blessing the Children' was not known before the Reformation. It can be interpreted as a reaction to the Anabaptists' rejection of the baptism of children. Luther invoked the quoted biblical text Mk 10 as justification.

In Cranach's workshop numerous paintings were created illustrating this subject, whereby no two are identical. One of these paintings once belonged to the ducal collection in Gottorf palace [DK_SMK_KMS2087], FR362F: it arrived there as part of a dowery from the Saxon Princess Maria Elizabeth who married Duke Friedrich III of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf in 1630.

The inclusion of the donors and the unusual use of a copper support distinguishes the present panel from other depictions of the same subject. It is one of the earliest known examples of painting on copper in Germany.

[Daria Dittmeyer, Schloss Gottorf 2013]

  • Jesus blessing the Children, about 1560

Images

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Documents

Technical studies

08. 2012Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

Underdrawing

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Materials:

- dry drawing material, dark chalk

Type/Ductus:

- freehand underdrawing

- thin lines

Function:

- relatively binding for the final painted version; lines delineate contours and describe the facial features and essential details; no representation of volume

Deviations:

- minor alterations made during the painting process to clearly define form; small changes (additional child’s head behind Christ)

INTERPRETATION

Attribution:

- Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger?

Comments:

- possibly with reference to a preparatory drawing or a pre-existing design

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich, cda 2013]

  • photographed by Gunnar Heydenreich
  • photographed by Ingo Sandner

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Jesus blessing the Children', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SHLM_1989-480/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Jesus blessing the Children', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_SHLM_1989-480/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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