A Stag Hunt

Title

A Stag Hunt

[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, No. 412]

Painting on beech wood (probably)

Medium

Painting on beech wood (probably)	[cda 2013]
Wood	[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, No. 412]

Among the hunters depicted here are Ferdinand I, King of the Romans, on the left in the foreground, and the Elector of Saxony in the centre. On the other side of the river and holding a crossbow is the Electors wife Sibylla of Cleves. The episode takes place near the castle of Hartenfels in Torgau (Saxony) where the Elector, a supporter of the Reformation, had the first Lutheran church built. Ferdinand, who supported the Catholic cause, wears a chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

[Museo del Prado, Collection online; https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/hunt-at-the-castle-of-torgau-in-honour-of/cee07b59-b977-4ce9-9bab-ab506222ffb1; accessed 06 April 2017]

Attributions: Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Younger

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Elder	[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, No. 412]
Lucas Cranach the Younger	[cda 2013]

Production date: 1545

Production date

1545

[dated]

Dimensions: Dimensions of support: 118 cm x 177 cm

Dimensions

Dimensions of support: 118 cm x 177 cm
[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, No. 412]

Signature / Dating: Artist's insignia on the rowing boat bottom right: winged serpent with dropped wings facing left and dated '.15.45.'; in yellow paint

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia on the rowing boat bottom right: winged serpent with dropped wings facing left and dated '.15.45.'; in yellow paint
[cda 2013]

Inscriptions and Labels

Recto: - bottom left:
in white paint: '1124'

bottom right:
in white paint over an inpaint: 'white lily motif'
Verso …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

Recto:
- bottom left:
in white paint: '1124'
- bottom right:
in white paint over an inpaint: 'white lily motif'
Verso :
- covered with a backboard
[cda 2013]

Owner: Museo Nacional del Prado
Repository: Museo Nacional del Prado
Location: Madrid

CDA ID: ES_MNdP_P02176
FR (1978) Nr.: FR412
Persistent Link: https://lucascranach.org/en/ES_MNdP_P02176/

Provenance

Collection of Isabella Farnese, St-Il-defonso
[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, No. 412]
La Granja de San Ildefonso (inventory 1772 and 1794)
listed in Fernando VII's testament (1834)
recorded in the catalogue of the Real Museo de Pintura y Escultura de S. M. (1843)
[Pérez d'Ors 2005, 19]

Exhibitions

Rome 2010, No. 1

Literature

Reference on page

Catalogue Number

Figure / Plate

Dohe 2015

47, 48

Author	Sebastian Dohe
Title	Aemulatio, Anspruch und Austausch. Cranachs Kunst im höfischen Dienst
Publication	in 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 Publication	Heidelberg
Year of Publication	2015
Pages	43-50

Show Literature

Exhib. Cat. Gotha, Kassel 2015

236

Editor	Julia Carrasco, Justus Lange, Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha, Benjamin D. Spira, Timo Trümper
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

Hoppe-Harnoncourt 2015

157-160, 162, 163, 165

Figs. 3, 5

Author	Alice Hoppe-Harnoncourt
Title	Lucas Cranach der Jüngere? Überlegungen zu zwei datierten Werken aus dem Kunsthistorischen Museum in Wien
Publication	in Elke A. Werner, Anne Eusterschulte, Gunnar Heydenreich, eds., Lucas Cranach der Jüngere und die Reformation der Bilder
Place of Publication	Munich
Year of Publication	2015
Pages	154-167

Show Literature

Trümper 2015

23, 24

Fig. 7

Author	Timo Trümper
Title	Inszenierungsstrategien der Ernestiner
Publication	in 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 Publication	Heidelberg
Year of Publication	2015
Pages	17-28

Show Literature

Exhib. Cat. Rome 2010

130 - 133

No. 1

Pl. p. 131, Pl. p. 133 (detail)

Editor	Galleria Borghese, Rome, Anna Coliva, Bernard Aikema
Title	Cranach. L'altro rinascimento / a different renaissance, [Rome, Galleria Borghese 15 ottobre 2010 - 13 febbraio 2011]
Place of Publication	Milan
Year of Publication	2010

Show Literature

Pérez d'Ors 2005

6-18, 20

Author	Pablo Pérez d'Ors
Title	Dos 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
Journal	Boletín del Museo del Prado
Issue	23, No.. 41
Year of Publication	2005
Pages	6-22

Show Literature

Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979

No. 412

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

Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932

331

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

A Stag Hunt, 1545

Images

Technical studies

2013Technical Examination

Support

- panel consisting of 3 planks (varying in width) from top to bottom: 37, 39, 51.7 cm

Ground and Imprimatura

- off-white ground (probably a chalk/glue mixture)

- at the sides c. 0.4 cm of bare wood visible along the edge beyond which the ground doesn’t extend

- top and bottom seemingly trimmed

- numerous bubbles visible over the entire surface of the panel

Underdrawing

- extensive underdrawing is visible to the naked eye

- delicate, fine lines defining the forms – precise description of the animals with a single outline – rougher indication of the shape of the trees

- in many cases the underdrawing has not been strictly followed and is therefore visible through the thinned paint

Paint Layers and Gilding

- paint application varies from very thin to thicker application of paint particularly in the figures and flesh paint

- sequence typical of the Cranach workshop practice opaque green layer painted over a thin semi-transparent brown glaze with a wider brush then details of the foliage added subsequently generally as impasto strokes and often with a very fine pointed brush

- typical depiction of the sky with a transition from yellow, through pink to blue

- various textural effects achieved: highlights dabbed onto the tree trunk (stippling effect to reproduce the texture of the bark); elsewhere dry brush employed

Framing

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

[cda 2013]

Condition Reports

Date2013

a cradle was attached to the reverse; the top and bottom of the panel may have been trimmed slightly
the panel has been thinned on the reverse
cradle removed and new system applied
old horizontal split at top
the joins have wooden inserts
wooded inserts also employed to stabilize splitting

[cda 2013]

Conservation History

Date2002

2002: cleaning; structural treatment carried out on the reverse; cradle removed and replaced with new support system

[cda 2013]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author: <author's name>, 'A Stag Hunt', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/ES_MNdP_P02176/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author: 'A Stag Hunt', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/ES_MNdP_P02176/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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