A Hunt in Honor of Carlos V at Torgau Castle

A Hunt in Honor of Carlos V at Torgau Castle

Title

A Hunt in Honor of Carlos V at Torgau Castle

[Museo Nacional del Prado, revised 2013]

Painting on beech wood

Medium

Painting on beech wood

[Museo Nacional del Prado, revised 2013]

A hunting scene characterized by a very developed landscape with Torgau Castle in the background and elector Johann Friedrich of Saxony and Emperor Carlos V hunting deer in the foreground. This work is signed with the monogram of Lucas Cranach and dated 1544. It was brought to Spain by Maria

A hunting scene characterized by a very developed landscape with Torgau Castle in the background and elector Johann Friedrich of Saxony and Emperor Carlos V hunting deer in the foreground. This work is signed with the monogram of Lucas Cranach and dated 1544. It was brought to Spain by Maria of Hungary and hung in the El Prado Palace, where it is listed in the inventory of 1564.

Lucas Cranach and his workshop painted various scenes similar to this one. Each of them shows the elector of Saxony in possession of Torgau Castle, accompanied by different rulers of that time.

Those paintings, which may have been commissioned by Elector Johann Friedrich as presents to other princes during the fifteen forties, have a political meaning. On one hand, they depict him as the legitimate Lord of his territory, with a commitment to the Reformation, as Torgau was the first Protestant church built ex-novo. At the same time, hunting was synonymous with good government at that time, and it alludes to the necessary collaboration among rulers in order to insure peace.

[http://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/online-gallery/on-line-gallery/obra/a-hunt-in-honor-of-carlos-v-at-torgau-castle/]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Younger

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Exhib. Cat. Gotha 2015, No. 74] [Museo Nacional del Prado, revised 2013]

Lucas Cranach the Younger

[Schade 1974, pl. 209-211]

Production date
1544

Production date

1544

[dated]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 114 cm x 175 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 114 cm x 175 cm

  • [Museo Nacional del Prado, revised 2013]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia on top of a tree stump, at bottom centre: winged serpent with dropped wings facing left ('I' located in the bend of the body) and dated '.15.44.'; in black paint

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia on top of a tree stump, at bottom centre: winged serpent with dropped wings facing left ('I' located in the bend of the body) and dated '.15.44.'; in black paint

  • [cda 2013]

Owner
Museo Nacional del Prado
Repository
Museo Nacional del Prado
Location
Madrid
CDA ID
ES_MNdP_P02175
FR (1978) Nr.
FR411
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/ES_MNdP_P02175/

Provenance

  • Mary of Hungary, in the collection the Palace of El Pardo (inventory from 1564) (I. F. Checa, Felipe II mecenas de las artes, Madrid 1992, 72, 78-79)
    [Perez D'Ors 2004, 6]

  • Collection of Philippe IV of Spain
    [Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, No. 411]

  • Royal Collection
    [Museo Nacional del Prado, revised 2013]

  • recorded in the Alcázar by 1599

  • in the Buen Retiro by 1772

  • La Galeria del Museo del Rey (1828)

  • recorded in Fernando VII's testament (1834)
    [Perez D'Ors 2004, 6, 19]

Exhibitions

Gotha/Kassel 2015, No. 74 (only in Kassel)

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. Gotha, Kassel 2015 236, 237 074 Pl. p. 237
EditorJulia Carrasco, Justus Lange, Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha, Benjamin D. Spira, Timo Trümper
TitleBild und Botschaft. Cranach im Dienst von Hof und Reformation, [Gotha, Herzogliches Museum; Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Schloss Wilhelmshöhe]
Place of PublicationHeidelberg
Year of Publication2015
Show Literature
Trümper 2015 24
AuthorTimo Trümper
TitleInszenierungsstrategien der Ernestiner
Publicationin Julia Carrasco, Justus Lange, Benjamin D. Spira, Timo Trümper, Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein Gotha and Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, eds., Bild und Botschaft. Cranach im Dienst von Hof und Reformation, [Exhib. Cat. Gotha, Kassel]
Place of PublicationHeidelberg
Year of Publication2015
Pages17-28
Show Literature
Werner 2015 9
AuthorElke Anna Werner
TitleLucas Cranach der Jüngere und die Reformation der Bilder. Zur Einführung
Publicationin Elke A. Werner, Anne Eusterschulte, Gunnar Heydenreich, eds., Lucas Cranach der Jüngere und die Reformation der Bilder
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2015
Pages8-16
Show Literature
CDA.Bloh 2005 177
AuthorJutta Charlotte von Bloh
TitleKleidung und Waffen in den Fürstenbildnissen der Cranachs
Publicationin Harald Marx, Ingrid Mössinger, Karin Kolb, eds., Cranach, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005
Place of PublicationCologne
Year of Publication2005
Pages174-181
Show Literature
Pérez d'Ors 2005 6-19
AuthorPablo Pérez d'Ors
TitleDos Cacerás de Lucas Cranach el Viejo en el Museo del Prado. Nuevos datos sobre las dos escenas de caza: historia material, obras similares y claves para su interpretación iconográfica e iconológica
JournalBoletín del Museo del Prado
Issue23, No.. 41
Year of Publication2005
Pages6-22
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Kronach 1994 311
EditorClaus Grimm, Johannes Erichsen, Evamaria Brockhoff
TitleLucas Cranach. Ein Maler-Unternehmer aus Franken [Festung Rosenberg, Kronach 17.05 - 21.08.1994; Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig 07.09 - 06.11.1994]
SeriesVeröffentlichungen zur bayerischen Geschichte und Kultur
Volume26
Place of PublicationAugsburg, Coburg
Year of Publication1994
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 No. 411
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Show Literature
Schade 1974 209-211
AuthorWerner Schade
TitleDie Malerfamilie Cranach
Place of PublicationDresden
Year of Publication1974
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/schade1974
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932 90 330
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1932
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/friedlaender1932
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

The closely packed and exquisitely painted detail of the hunt scene - the pictorial organisation of which has frequently been compared with a tapestry -, together with the portraits suggest the documentary nature of the depiction, which is now refuted by scholars: in fact like the other hunt scenes this is not a memorial image recording the emperor's participation in a hunt near Torgau [2], an event that never took place, but rather a symbolic-strategical demonstration of the political concordance between the Habsburgs and the Ernstines on the eve of the Schmalkaldic War, which ultimately divided the parties who were in confessional opposition. [3] Through the metaphor of the hunt, which represents an allergory for sovereign virtues, a positive light was cast on the difficult relationship in terms of foreign policy between Charles V and Johann Friedrich. This relationship was at once informed by unity in the fight against the Turks and conflicting interests regarding the question of reformation. [4] The hunting scene may have been a diplomatic gift - perhaps even to the emperor himself. [5]

[1] Exhib. Cat. Dresden 2004, 158, No. 218

[2] Among others: Francis 1959, 202-205

[3] Exhib. Cat. Dresden 2004, 147; Pérez d'Ors 2005, 10-18

[4] Ebenda and Exhib. Cat. Frankfurt 2007, 384

[5] The panel in Cleveland was a gift to Moritz of Saxony, Cat. Cleveland 1982, 164; Pérez d'Ors 2005, 12 and 17 f.

[Exhib. Cat. Gotha, Kassel 2015, 236]

  • A Hunt in Honor of Carlos V at Torgau Castle, 1544

Images

Compare images
  • overall

Technical studies

2013Technical Examination

Support

- 3 horizontally aligned planks

- small insert c. 4 cm in height

Ground and Imprimatura

- off white ground (examined in frame)

Underdrawing

- examination with the naked eye revealed initial design was possibly reinforced with brushed lines

- back of stag (central group above the tree) fine line visible in paint suggesting design possibly transferred from pre-existing sketch, contour has been shifted slightly in the painted version

- grisaille underpainting?

Paint Layers and Gilding

- underpainting applied in blocks of colour

- figures held in reserve when green applied

- numerous pentimenti (particularly in positioning of the animals)

- details added; some with an almost dry brush

- drying cracks in the brown glazes and in the water

- black lines visible along the side edges

Framing

- frame not original; reconstruction of a German renaissance frame 2004?

[cda 2013]

2007Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography

Sistema Musis; four details

  • photographed by Museo Nacional del Prado

14.07.2003Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • photographed by Museo Nacional del Prado

Condition Reports

Date2013

  • thinned and cradled

  • good condition three old horizontal splits

  • retouching

[cda 2013]

Conservation History

Date20.12.2001 - 15.09.2002

Summary of treatment report (pdf in spanish):

  • surface cleaned with distilled water

  • varnish removal with ethanol and white spirits (30%); some old retouchings removed mechanically

  • losses were filled with a chalk/glue fill material

  • retouching with Maimeri

  • dammar varnish applied

[cda 2013]

  • conservation treatment by Jesús Iglesias Díaz

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'A Hunt in Honor of Carlos V at Torgau Castle', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/ES_MNdP_P02175/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
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