Ernst I, the Confessor, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg

Ernst I, the Confessor, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg

Painting on laid paper

Medium

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

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

Portrait of Ernst I. Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, facing to his left. His face has been modelled with body colour, whereas his hat and the pendant with the eagle around his neck are only roughly sketched in.

[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] [Hofbauer 2010, no. 223] [or Cranach the Elder?, Koepplin, Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976, no. 635]

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[or Cranach the Younger?, Koepplin, Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976, no. 635] [Jahn, Bernhard 1972, 150] [Rosenberg 1960, no. 84] [Girshausen 1936, no. 86]

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
about 1538

Dating

about 1540

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

about 1538

[Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976, no. 635] [Rosenberg 1960, no. 84] [Girshausen 1936, no. 86]

Dimensions
Sheet: 290 x 197 mm

Dimensions

Signature / Dating

none

Inscriptions

none

Inscriptions

Inscriptions:

  • none

Labels

on the recto: - top left, handwritten: '95'
- bottom left, 2 circular stamps in brown ink

on the backboard:

Labels

later inscription, stamps, seals, labels:

  • on the recto: - top left, handwritten: '95'

  • - bottom left, 2 circular stamps in brown ink

  • 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: '795.1.273'

  • - beneath on the tape, handwritten: '795.1.273'

  • - 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_795-1-273
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/FR_MR_795-1-273/

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. 209
New York 1951, no. 1
Basel 1974, no. 635
Wittenberg 2015, no. 3/2
Reims 2016, no. 4
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. 21

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. Paris 2025 21 Fig. p. 21
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
Cat. Coburg 2018 216, 217 Fig. 5
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
Exhib. Cat. Reims 2016 04
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 114-123, 116, 123, 304, 316 3/2 Fig. p. 305
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 32, 33 Fig. p. 33
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 58-62, 60, 61, 66 008
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
Hofbauer 2010 446, 447 223 Fig. p. 447
AuthorMichael Hofbauer
TitleCranach - die Zeichnungen
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication2010
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976 712 635
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
Jahn, Bernhard 1972 150 Fig. p. 150
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 31 084 pl. 84
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 01
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
Zimmermann E. H. 1942 A 4
AuthorErnst Heinrich Zimmermann
TitleEin Bildnisentwurf Lucas Cranachs d. J.
JournalBerliner Museen
Issue63 (1942)
Year of Publication1942
Pages2-4
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1937 209
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, 59, 80 086
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 185 Fig. 1
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

When writing about this drawing M.-H. Montout-Richard confirms that from the 1930s it has been considered the study for a painted portrait of Ernest the Confessor, which has since disappeared. She cites a copy by the Master I.S [DE_LHW_G89] [1] which supports this hypothesis. A reference to a miniature in the ‘Illustrated Chronicles of Lüneburg’ (Lüneburger Bilderchronik from 1595, Lüneburg Museum) serves to confirm the likeness. She mentions also an invoice from 1538 that has been linked to a portrait of the duke commissioned from Cranach the Younger. However, she believes this date to be too early for this study which, given the stylistic similarities of the other drawings in the series, she dates to c. 1540. For the same reason she also rejects the association made by Zimmermann [Zimmarmann, E. H. 1942 A, 4] with a portait of Johann of Saxony, from 1537 [US_MMANY_08-19].

[1] There is another version of this portrait [DE_KSVC_M024]

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

  • Ernst I, the Confessor, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, about 1540

Images

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License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Condition Reports

Date2025

- adhered to cardboard

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

Versions1

Ernst the Confessor, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Celle
  • Ernst the Confessor, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Celle, about 1560
  • DE_LHW_G89
  • Painting
  • Stiftung Luthergedenkstätten in Sachsen-Anhalt

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