The Nymph at the Fountain

The Nymph at the Fountain

Titles

The Nymph at the Fountain

[Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012], [Borobia, Cat. Madrid 2009, 262-263], [Andrade, Cat. Madrid 1992 , 295, 672, No. 115]

Reclining Diana

[Exhib. Cat. Munich 1930, No. 88]

Nymph reclining by the Spring

[Exhib. Cat. London 1961, No. 34], [Sterling, Cat. Madrid 1969, vol. 1, 87-88, No. 78; vol. 2, fig. 60]

Naid of the Spring

[Borghero, Cat. Lugano 1986 , 87, No. 78]

Nymph of the Spring

[Wateville, Cat. Lugano 1989, 92]

Reclining Nymph

[Lübbeke 1991, 202-209, No. 47]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012]

The present panel depicts the nymph of the Castalian spring, whose water was drunk by philosophers and poets in search of inspiration. The nymph lies on a thick grassy bank in an unnatural pose, her head leaning on her right arm, her body turned towards the viewer and her left

The present panel depicts the nymph of the Castalian spring, whose water was drunk by philosophers and poets in search of inspiration. The nymph lies on a thick grassy bank in an unnatural pose, her head leaning on her right arm, her body turned towards the viewer and her left leg crossed over. Behind her, a succession of receding planes create a sense of depth. The subject of the composition combines references to classical antiquity with the influence of Italian art. The nymph's pose recalls that of Giorgione's Venus in the Dresden Gemäldegalerie, while Titian's Venuses are suggested in the presence of the cartouche at the upper left corner that bears the text of a Latin poem. The quiver with arrows and the bow resting against the tree may refer to Diana the Huntress or to Cupid, who traditionally accompanies Venus.

[Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012]

Attribution
Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attribution

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012]

Production dates
about 1530 - 1534
about 1526 - 1530

Production dates

about 1530 - 1534

[Museo thyssen-Bornemszia, revised 2012]

about 1526 - 1530

[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932, No. 101]

about 1530 - 1534

[Lübbeke 1991, 202-209, No. 47]

1530 - 1535

[Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974, No. 544]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 75 x 120 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 75 x 120 cm

  • Dimensions including frame: 98.5 x 143 x 7 cm

  • [Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012]

Inscriptions and Labels
  • top left corner: 'FONTIS NYMPHA SACRI SOMNVM / NE RVMPE QVIESCO.'

[Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012]

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

    • top left corner:

  • 'FONTIS NYMPHA SACRI SOMNVM / NE RVMPE QVIESCO.'

  • [Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012]

Owner
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Repository
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Location
Madrid
CDA ID
ES_MTB_115-1986-13
FR (1978) Nr.
FR120
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/ES_MTB_115-1986-13/

Provenance

  • before 1918 in the collection of the painter Wilhelm Trübner, Berlin
  • 1918 auctioned at Lepke, lot 267, Berlin, 4-5 June
  • 1923 private collection, Switzerland
  • Haberstock Gallery, Berlin
  • 1928 J. Goudstikker Gallery, Amsterdam
  • 1928 Collection Thyssen-Bornemisza
  • 1948 Condesa Margit Batthyány (as inheritance)
  • 1986 Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Lugano
  • in 1992 on deposit in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
  • in 1993 aquired by the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

[Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012]

Exhibitions

Munich 1930, No. 88
London 1961, No. 34
Basel 1974, No. 544
Madrid 2007 - 2008, No. 66

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Cat. Coburg 2018 92 under no. 15
AuthorKlaus Weschenfelder
TitleCranach in Coburg. Gemälde von Lucas Cranach d.Ä., Lucas Cranach d.J., der Werkstatt und des Umkreises in den Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg
Place of PublicationRegensburg
Year of Publication2018
Show Literature
Cat. Madrid 2009 262-263 Fig.
EditorMar Borobia, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
TitleMuseo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Pintura Antigua
Place of PublicationMadrid
Year of Publication2009
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Madrid 2007/2008 205-210 No. 66 Fig. p. 243
EditorFernando Checa
TitleDurero y Cranach. Arte y Humanismo en la Alemania del Renacimiento [Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza]
Place of PublicationMadrid
Year of Publication2007
Show Literature
Pérez-Jofre 2001 148, 150 Fig.
AuthorTeresa Pérez-Jofre
EditorMuseo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
TitleGrandes obras de arte
Place of PublicationCologne
Year of Publication2001
Show Literature
Bozal 2000 104, 116 Fig.
AuthorValeriano Bozal
TitlePintar paisajes, construir cosas. El arte y los cuatro elementos
Publicationin Carlos Garcia Gual et al., Los Cuatro Elementos y la Sociedad en Red BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria)
Place of PublicationMadrid
Year of Publication2000
Show Literature
Cat. Madrid 1992 295, 672 No. 115 Fig.
AuthorMar Borobia, Pita Andrade, José Manuel
EditorMuseo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
TitleMaestros Antiguos del Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
Place of PublicationBarcelona
Year of Publication1992
Show Literature
Lübbeke 1991 202-209 No. 47 Fig.
AuthorSammlung Thyssen-Bornemisza, Isolde Lübbeke
TitleThe Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. Early German painting 1350-1550
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1991
Show Literature
Cat. Bremen 1990 105-107 Fig.
AuthorCorinna Höper
TitleKatalog der Gemälde des 14. bis 18. Jahrhunderts in der Kunsthalle Bremen
Place of PublicationBremen
Year of Publication1990
Show Literature
Cat. Lugano-Castagnola 1989 92 Fig.
AuthorCaroline de Watteville
EditorThyssen-Bornemisza Collection
TitleThe Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. Guide to the Exhibited Works
Place of PublicationMilan
Year of Publication1989
Show Literature
Cat. Lugano-Castagnola 1986 87 No. 77 Fig.
EditorGertrude Borghero, Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection
TitleThyssen-Bornemisza Collection. Catalogue raisonné of the exhibited works of art
Place of PublicationMilan
Year of Publication1986
Show Literature
Goldberg 1983 B 29-30 Fig.
AuthorGisela Goldberg
TitleOld Master of the German School
JournalApollo
Issue118
Year of Publication1983
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 No. 120
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Show Literature
Börsch-Supan 1977 21-22
AuthorHelmut Börsch-Supan
TitleCranachs Quellenymphen und sein Gestaltungsprinzip der Variation
Publicationin Dieter Koepplin, ed., Akten des Kolloquiums zur Basler Cranachausstellung 1974
Place of PublicationBasel
Year of Publication1977
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976 289, 426, 430, 635, 637 No. 544 Pl. 17
AuthorDieter Koepplin, Tilman Falk
TitleLukas Cranach. Gemälde, Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik
Volume1, 2
Place of PublicationBasel, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1974
Link http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-diglit-104522
Show Literature
Cat. Lugano-Castagnola 1971
AuthorJohann Ebbinge-Wubben, Charles James Sterling, Christian A. zu Salm
EditorRudolf Heinemann, Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection
TitleSammlung Thyssen-Bornemisza
Volume1, 2
Place of PublicationZurich
Year of Publication1971
Show Literature
Cat. Lugano-Castagnola 1969 87-88 (vol. 1) No. 78 Fig. 60 (vol. 2)
AuthorJohann Ebbinge-Wubben, Charles James Sterling, Christian A. zu Salm
EditorRudolf Heinemann, Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection
TitleThe Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection
Volume1, 2
Place of PublicationLugano-Castagnola
Year of Publication1969
Show Literature
Liebmann 1968
AuthorMichael Liebmann
TitleOn the iconography of the Nymph of the fountain by Lucas Cranach the Elder
JournalJournal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
Issue31
Year of Publication1968
Pages434-437
Show Literature
Haberstock 1967 No. 7 Fig.
AuthorM. Haberstock
TitleHundert Bilder aus der Galerie Haberstock
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication1967
Show Literature
Börsch-Supan 1964 41-42
AuthorHelmut Börsch-Supan
TitleDie Gemälde im Jagdschloss Grunewald
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1964
Show Literature
Cat. Lugano-Castagnola 1964
EditorRudolf Heinemann, Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection
TitleCollection Chateau de Rohoncz
Place of PublicationLugano
Year of Publication1964
Show Literature
Ruhmer 1963 13, 85 No. 33 Fig. 33
AuthorEberhard Ruhmer
TitleCranach
Place of PublicationCologne
Year of Publication1963
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. London 1961 No. 34
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleFrom Van Eyck to Tiepolo. An Exhibition of Pictures from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection [London, The National Gallery]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1961
Show Literature
Rosenberg 1960 22
AuthorJakob Rosenberg
TitleDie Zeichnungen Lucas Cranachs d.Ä.
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1960
Show Literature
Redslob 1959 No. 21
AuthorEdwin Redslob
TitleMeisterwerke der Malerei aus der Sammlung Thyssen-Bornemisza 'Sammlung Schloss Rohoncz' in Lugano-Castagnola
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1959
Show Literature
Cat. Lugano-Castagnola 1958 28 No. 106 Fig. 19
AuthorRudolf Heinemann
EditorThyssen-Bornemisza Collection
TitleStiftung Sammlung Schloss Rohoncz
Place of PublicationLugano-Castagnola
Year of Publication1958
Show Literature
Godfrey 1954 36-37 Fig.
AuthorF. M. Godfrey
Title''The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. II. The German, Flemish and Dutch Schools
JournalApollo
IssueVol. 59
Year of Publication1954
Show Literature
Kurz 1953 176
AuthorOtto Kurz
TitleHuius Nympha Loci
JournalJournal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
IssueVol. 16, n. 3/4
Year of Publication1953
Pages171-177
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Lugano 1949 26 No. 69a
AuthorRudolf Heinemann, Adolf Feulner
EditorThyssen-Bornemisza Collection
TitleAus dem Besitz der Stiftung Sammlung Schloss Rohoncz [Lugano-Castagnola, Villa Favorita]
Place of PublicationLugano-Castagnola
Year of Publication1949
Show Literature
Cat. Lugano-Castagnola 1937 38 106 Pl. 51 (vol. 2)
AuthorRudolf Heinemann
EditorThyssen-Bornemisza Collection
TitleStiftung Sammlung Schloss Rohoncz
Volume2 vols
Place of PublicationLugano-Castagnola
Year of Publication1937
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932 49 101 Fig. 101
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
Exhib. Cat. Munich 1930 A No. 88
Authorn. a.
TitleSammlung Schloss Rohoncz, Plastik und Gewerbe [Munich, Neue Pinakothek]
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication1930
Show Literature
Glaser 1923 224
AuthorCurt Glaser
TitleLukas Cranach
Place of PublicationLeipzig
Year of Publication1923
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/glaser1923
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

The subject, as with others in Cranach’s oeuvre, was re-used on various occasions by the painter with changes to the figure and setting. In this predominantly horizontal composition the artist located the nymph covered in a transparent veil that covers her head and body. She rests peacefully beside a fountain in a rather unnatural pose, her head raised slightly due to the position of her right arm and the velvet cushion, turning her body towards the viewer and crossing one leg. Further horizontal lines are created further into the pictorial space by the different elements that construct the landscape and which emphasise the peaceful, gentle mood of the painting. These planes correspond to the edge of the thick grass on which the nymph is lying, the soft outlines of the hills with deer at rest, and finally the screen of trees with which the composition is closed at the rear.

The subject of the painting has been of interest to scholars due to its combination of classical and Italian references. One of the keys to the identification of the nymph, whose posture recalls Giorgione’s Venus in the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden as well as Titian’s, is to be found in the cartouche in the upper left corner painted on the rocky outcrop from which the fountain’s source springs in the manner of an inscription. The text is a Latin hexameter that has been identified as the start of an epigram by the humanist Giovanni Campani. The nymph has thus been identified as the nymph of the Castalian Spring, from whose waters poets and philosophers drank in search of inspiration. Cranach introduced two further elements into the scene: the quiver and arrows and the bow that hang from the tree trunk whose verticality breaks the calm horizontality of the composition. These two objects, together with the deer in the background, may refer to Diana the Huntress or to Cupid who usually accompanies Venus. In this work Cranach imbues his nymph with a sensual charge that is immediately evident to the viewer despite the harmony and peace that envelop the figure. Lübbeke dated the panel to around 1530–34 on the basis of the figure’s elongated proportions that recall Mannerist art.

[Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012]

  • The Nymph at the Fountain, about 1530 - 1534

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • irr
  • x_radiograph
  • detail
  • detail
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Documents

Technical studies

09.01.2013Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Micro-sampling / cross-sections
  • Instrumental material analysis

Cross-sections; pigment analysis; medium analysis:

Summary translation from the spanish text [ES_MTB_115-1986-13_FR120_2013_Document-001.pdf]

CROSS-SECTION 1:

Sample location: blue sky

Brief description:

1. grey imprimatura: lead white, calcium carbonate, charcoal

2. blue layer: lead white and azurite; medium: walnut oil

3. varnish: colophony (rosin)

CROSS-SECTION 2:

Sample location: green vegetation

Brief description:

1. ground: calcium carbonate

2. copper resinate

3. lead white, some pigment particles of verdigris and lead tin yellow

4. copper resinate

Medium: linseed oil

Varnish: rosin

CROSS-SECTION 3:

Sample location: flesh paint

Brief description:

1. gypsum (calcium sulphate)

2. lead white and vermilion (veins on the foot)

3. lead white, azurite and vermilion

Medium: linseed oil

Varnish: rosin

CONCLUSION

Examination of the cross-sections revealed that the painting was executed over a white ground layer containing calcium carbonate. Subsequent layers were executed in oil: walnut oil was identified in the sky and linseed oil in the rest of the painting.

The artist alternated between applications of glazes and more impasto layers, particularly in the rendering of the landscape, he employed a grey imprimatura applied locally in the sky and very thin brushstrokes over the flesh paint of the nymph through which the thin veins are visible in the area of the feet.

  • analysed by Andrés Sánchez Ledesma
  • analysed by Laboratorio de análisis Museo Thyssen Bornemisza

2008Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

Underdrawing

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Materials:

- fluid black medium and a brush

Type/Ductus:

- freehand underdrawing; barely visible

- thin lines

Function:

- binding for the final painted version; lines delineate contours; no representation of volume

Deviations:

- minor alterations made during the painting process to clearly define form; small changes (e.g. the position of the belly button)

INTERPRETATION

Attribution:

- Lucas Cranach the Elder

Comments:

- the veins are indicated with dark lines

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich, cda 2013]

Underdrawing

- an underdrawing is hardly visible using infra-red reflectography; navel moved slightly, pentimento on the foot of the bent leg

[Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012]

  • photographed by Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

2007Technologische Untersuchung / Naturwissenschaftliche Materialanalyse

  • X-radiography
  • x_radiograph
  • created by Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Condition Reports

Date2012

  • transferred and cradled

  • the dimensions of this outstanding painting are not the original ones as it has been modified on all four sides. In addition, a strip around 4 cm wide was added to the lower edge below the figure's foot.

[Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012]

Conservation History

Date2006 - 2007

Restored in Conservation Dept. at Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza between 2006 and 2007

[Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, revised 2012]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'The Nymph at the Fountain', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/ES_MTB_115-1986-13/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'The Nymph at the Fountain', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/ES_MTB_115-1986-13/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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