Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (1492 - 1566)

Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (1492 - 1566)

Painting on laid paper

Medium

Painting on laid paper
Tempera, pierre noire (black chalk)

[Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims online, accessed 01.04.2025]

Portrait of Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, facing to his left. Only his face and hair have been sketched and then modelled with body colour.

[cda 2026]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Younger
Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Younger

[Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims online, accessed 01.04.2025] [Exhib. Cat. Wittenberg 2015, 320, no.3/10]

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Hofbauer 2010, no. 121] [Jahn, Bernhard 1972, 152] [Rosenberg 1960, no. 87] [Girshausen 1936, no. 89]

Albrecht Dürer

former attribution [Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims online, accessed 01.04.2025]

Hans Holbein the Younger

former attribution [Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims online, accessed 01.04.2025]

Dating
about 1540
um 1545

Dating

about 1540

[Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims online, accessed 01.04.2025]

about 1530 - 1540

[Rosenberg 1934, 188]

um 1545

[Rosenberg 1960, no. 87] [Girshausen 1936, no. 89]

Dimensions
Sheet: 315 x 207 mm

Dimensions

Signature / Dating

none

Inscriptions

none

Inscriptions

Inscriptions:

  • none

Labels

on the backboard:
- top centre, paper label (Wittenberg exhibition): 'LP ART [...]'
- bottom, centre, stamp, black …

Labels

later inscription, stamps, seals, labels:

  • on the backboard:

  • - top centre, paper label (Wittenberg exhibition): 'LP ART [...]'

  • - bottom, centre, stamp, black ink 'MUSEÉ DES BEAUX-ART || REIMS FRANCE [...]'

  • - bottom right, oval stamp, black ink

  • - label with barcode

  • - beneath, handwritten: '795.1.271'

  • - beneath on the tape, handwritten: '795.1.271'

  • - in all four corners, stamp, black ink: 'Encadre sous verre'

  • For further information see also: [Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims online, accessed 01.04.2025]

Owner
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Reims
Repository
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Reims
Location
Reims
CDA ID
FR_MR_795-1-271
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/FR_MR_795-1-271/

Provenance

- until 1752 in the collection of Antoine Ferrand de Monthelon (painter and director of the L’école de dessin de Reims)
- in 1752 bequested to the town of Reims
[Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims online, accessed 01.04.2025]

Exhibitions

Berlin 1937, no. 211
New York 1951, no. 4
Wittenberg 2015, no. 3/10
Reims 2016, no. 3
Colmar 2021 (no catalogue, Têtes è têtes. Lucas Cranach Le Jeune/ Collège Molière de Colmar, Portraits Musée Unterlinden de Colmar
06/11/2021 - 07/02/2022)
Paris 2025, p. 20

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. Paris 2025 20 Fig. p. 20
AuthorMarie-Hélène Montout-Richard
EditorMusée des Beaux-Arts, Reims
TitleDess(e)ins pour un grand musée
Place of PublicationReims
Year of Publication2025
Link https://www.calameo.com/read/002338616527cb890de67
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Reims 2016 03
AuthorMarie-Hélène Montout-Richard, Catherine Delot
EditorMusée des Beaux-Arts, Reims
TitleRegard sur ...Lucas Cranach le Jeune
Place of PublicationReims
Year of Publication2016
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Wittenb 2015 B 121, 123, 318, 320 3/10 Fig. p. 321
EditorRoland Enke, Jutta Strehle, Katja Schneider
TitleLucas Cranach der Jüngere - Entdeckung eines Meisters, Stiftung Luthergedenkstätten in Sachsen-Anhalt, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Augusteum, 26 June - 1 November 2015
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2015
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Wittenb 2015 C 28, 46, 59, 60 006 Fig. p. 29
EditorSuzanne Greub
TitleVon Meisterhand : die Cranach-Sammlung des Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims, Augusteum/Lutherhaus, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, 26 June - 1 November 2015
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2015
Show Literature
Montout-Richard 2015 59, 60, 66 006
AuthorMarie-Hélène Montout-Richard
Title"Die Cranachs" von Reims
Publicationin Suzanne Greub, ed., Von Meisterhand : die Cranach-Sammlung des Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims, Augusteum/Lutherhaus, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, 26 June - 1 November 2015
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2015
Pages58-62
Show Literature
Messling 2013 237
AuthorGuido Messling
Title[Rezension von] Michael Hofbauer: Cranach. Die Zeichnungen
JournalMaster Drawings
Issue51, 2
Year of Publication2013
Pages229-242
Show Literature
Hofbauer 2010 264, 265 121 Fig. p. 265
AuthorMichael Hofbauer
TitleCranach - die Zeichnungen
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication2010
Show Literature
Montout 1994 45-49, 14, 86 Fig. p. 44
AuthorMusée des Beaux-Arts, Reims, Marie-Hélène Montout
TitleCranach l'Ancien et le Jeune
Place of PublicationReims
Year of Publication1994
Show Literature
Jahn, Bernhard 1972 152 Fig. p. 152
AuthorJohannes Jahn
EditorMarianne Bernhard
TitleLucas Cranach der Ältere: 1472 - 1553. Das gesamte graphische Werk. Mit Exempeln aus dem graphischen Werk Lucas Cranach des Jüngeren und der Cranachwerkstatt
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication1972
Show Literature
Rosenberg 1960 32 087 pl. 87
AuthorJakob Rosenberg
TitleDie Zeichnungen Lucas Cranachs d.Ä.
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1960
Link https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42777
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. New York 1951 04
EditorKnoedler Galleries, New York
TitleA loan exhibition of fifteen portrait drawings of the 16th century from the Museum of Rheims, [Knoedler Galleries, New York, 29.10 - 17.11.1951]
Place of PublicationNew York
Year of Publication1951
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1937 211
EditorStaatliche Museen, Berlin
TitleLucas Cranach d. Ä. und Lucas Cranach d. J. Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Graphik
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1937
Show Literature
Girshausen 1936 58, 81 089
AuthorTheo Ludwig Girshausen
TitleDie Handzeichnungen Lukas Cranachs des Älteren
Place of PublicationFrankfurt/Main
Year of Publication1936
Link https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23708
Show Literature
Rosenberg 1934 A 188 Fig. 7
AuthorJakob Rosenberg
TitleDeutsche Bildzeichnungen des 16. Jhs. im Museum zu Reims
JournalJahrbuch der Preußischen Kunstsammlungen
Issue55
Year of Publication1934
Pages181-189
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

It was Girshausen [Girshausen 1936, no. 189] who first noticed a similarity with this study and a representation in the painting of 'A Stag Hunt' (now in the Prado) [ES_MNdP_P02176].

[cda 2026]

In 1960 Rosenberg [Rosenberg 1960, no. 87] agrees with Girshausen's identification of the sitter as Wolfgang von Anhalt-Köthen and draws a further comparision with a portrait painting by the Master I.S. [RU_SMBKPM_932]. Further examples include [PRIVATE_NONE-P328] and the copy [CH_KMB_185] and later representations like [DE_JD_NONE-JD001] and [DE_KBZ_NONE-KBZ001].

[cda 2026]

Another hypothesis regarding the identity of the sitter is that it may be Philip I of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen (1476-1551), a fervent supporter of the Reformation. This proposal seems attractive because it associates the portrait with Ernst and Catherine of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen, his children, who also feature in the Reims series. However, it is not entirely convincing (as indicated by a comparisons with a relief of Philip I, Duke of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen, Bernburg Castle; a post-mortem print; and a drawing by Hans Cranach, Erlangen, Graphische Sammlung der Universitätsbibliothek), and particularly if we consider the age of the sitter who would have been c. forty.

[Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims online, accessed 01.04.2025] (Translated from French, cda 2026)

  • Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (1492 - 1566), about 1540

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License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Technical studies

2025Technical Examination

  • Watermark

Watermark: present

Watermark, motif: the initial 'F' in a circle, (Frankfurt am Main created around 1530 (cf. Briquet 8153)

[Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims online, accessed 31.03.2025]

Condition Reports

Date2025

- adhered to cardboard

[Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims online, accessed 31.03.2025]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (1492 - 1566)', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/FR_MR_795-1-271/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (1492 - 1566)', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/FR_MR_795-1-271/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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