Christ blessing the children

This scene, which before the reformation was practically never illustrated as an autonomous motif, was repeatedly depicted by the Cranach workshop from the mid-1530s. Among roughly twenty preserved versions the signed panels are dated between the years 1538 and 1545. [1] However, it is documented that Cranach depicted the subject later in a list compiled in 1552 of works painted by him for his employer while he was in Augsburg. Among others a panel is recorded showing 'and they bring the children to the Lord'. During the preceding years commissions from the electors are also documented. Friedländer, Rosenberg state that Johann Friedrich acquired three versions of the subject between 1540 and 1550. Admittedly, among the preserved paintings it can only be assumed of the version in Gotha that it was originally Saxon property [DE_SMG_G6]. [2] Furthermore many panels were used within a religious context, as suggest by the illustrated motif. The panels from the Paulinerkirche in Leipzig, the Annenkirche in Augsburg, the Wenzelkirche in Naumburg, the Marienkirche in Zwickauer and the present panel from the Dominican Cloister in Frankfurt can be cited here as examples. In the case of the first four works it may be assumed that they were installed when the churches began to be used as protestant places of worship. In contrast for the panel in Frankfurt it can only be said that the Dominican Cloister remained Catholic until its secularisation in 1803. The panel in Frankfurt is therefore the only example of a panel illustrating the blessing of the children, which was installed within a Roman Catholic context. Here it remains unclear whether or not the painting entered the church as donatation from a patrician well-disposed to the reformation as at the beginning of the 16th century the church was frequently used as a burial place for council members. In fact it stands to reason that panels with a religious provenance were not financed by the church, but were rather donations. However, a donor can only be named with any certainty for the panel in Zwickau.[3]

The protagonists in all versions of the scene are shown, like here, as knee-length figures with the exception of the works in Dresden and Erfurt as well as a drawing preserved in Leipzig where they are shown as full-length figures.[4] Analogous to the panel in Frankfurt is that in every case the depicted event is complemented by an inscription. This is in German and is taken from the Gospel of St Mark. On other works in addition to this passage the beginning of the verse ("and they brought the little children to him, so that he could touch them") is cited.[5] It cannot be proved that the variations in the inscriptions correspond with changes in the composition nor as is sometimes stated that they vary in accordance with the date of creation.

[1] The panels from 1538 in Hamburg and Dresden as well as a panel auctioned at Christie's in 2012 represent the earliest works. Conversely the painting in Leipzig completed in 1545 is the earliest dated version presently known.

[2]Kolb assumes with regard to the two versions now in Dresden, that they were transferred to the cabinet of curiosities from Hartenfels castle during the mid-17th century and therefore may belong to the original decoration of the residence commissioned by the ernestine elector. In addition the design for a wall hanging now in Leipzig can on the basis that it bears the electoral coat-of-arms be located within a courtly context.

[3] The painting was commissioned by the mayor Johann Unruh.

[4] It may be assumed that a panel auctioned at Christie's [London] in 2012, which shows the scene with half-length figures was cropped at some stage.

[5] On the panels in Erfurt, Gotha, Copenhagen, New York, Ostrava, Schweinfurt, Gottorf, as well as a painting auctioned at Christie's in 2007.

[Exhib. Cat. Gotha/Kassel 2015, 200]