Johann Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg

Johann Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg

Painting on laid paper

Medium

Painting on laid paper
Tempera, pierre noire (black chalk) and pen and brown ink

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

Portrait of a man, facing to his left. His face has been modelled with body colour, whereas the neckline of his tunic is 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. 218]

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Jahn, Bernhard 1972, 155] [Rosenberg 1960, no. 89] [Girshausen 1936, no. 92]

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 1530 - 1540

Dating

about 1540

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

about 1530 - 1540

[Rosenberg 1960, no. 89] [Girshausen 1936, no. 92]

Dimensions
Sheet: 195 x 169 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: '795.1.275'

  • - beneath on the tape, handwritten: '795.1.275'

  • - 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_795-1-275
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/FR_MR_795-1-275/

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

New York 1951, no. 8
Wittenberg 2015, no. 3/4
Reims 2016, no. 6
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. 22

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. Paris 2025 22 Fig. p. 22
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 06
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, 119, 123, 302, 304, 308 3/4 Fig. p. 309
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 36, 67 Fig. p. 37
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
Hofbauer 2010 436, 437 218 Fig. p. 437
AuthorMichael Hofbauer
TitleCranach - die Zeichnungen
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication2010
Show Literature
Jahn, Bernhard 1972 155 Fig. p. 155
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 32 089 pl. 89
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 08
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
Girshausen 1936 58, 59, 82 092
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. 5
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 rules out the hypothesis first suggested by Rosenberg [Rosenberg 1934, 188] that the sitter could be Friedrich, Duke of Saxony. Instead, she suggests that the sitter is Johann-Ernst I., Duke of Saxe-Cobourg. A theory she corroborates by citing confirmed portraits for comparative purposes, including an early portrait in the Album of the House of Saxony (Stammbuch), Dresden, [SLUB online]; a portrait on the Schneeberg altarpiece, 1539 [DE_WSCH_NONE-WSCH001C]; and a miniature portrait by Cranach the Younger [AT_KHM_GG4802]

A further argument in favour of this identification is the fact that his wife is also part of the series.

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

In 1934 Rosenberg [Rosenberg 1934, 188] recognised features in the sitter akin to Friedrich, Duke of Saxony as depicted in a portrait series by the Master I. S. [RU_SMBKPM_935]. However, in 1960 [Rosenberg 1960, no. 89] he revised his opinion and agreed with Girshausen [Girshausen 1936, no. 92] that based on this comparison alone the sitter cannot reliably be identified.

[cda 2026]

  • Johann Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, about 1540

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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]

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