Portrait of an unknown male sitter

Portrait of an unknown male sitter

Painting on laid paper

Medium

Painting on laid paper
Tempera

[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 collar of his shirt and the lapel of his tunic are both 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. 227] [Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976, no. 636] [Schade 1974, pl. 218] [Exhib. Cat. Wittenberg 2015, 322, no. 3/11]

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 1545 - 1550
about 1545

Dating

about 1545 - 1550

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

about 1545

[Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976, no. 636] [Schade 1974, pl. 218]

Dimensions
Sheet: 363 x 246 mm

Dimensions

Signature / Dating

none

Inscriptions

none

Inscriptions

Inscriptions:

  • none

Labels

On the recto: - top right: circular stamp

on the backboard:
- top centre, paper label (Wittenberg exhibition): 'LP ART …

Labels

later inscription, stamps, seals, labels:

  • On the recto: - top right: circular stamp

  • 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: '795.1.277'

  • - beneath on the tape, handwritten: '795.1.277'

  • - 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_795-1-277
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/FR_MR_795-1-277/

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

Basel 1974, no. 636
Wittenberg 2015, no. 3/11
Reims 2016, no. 9
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. 23

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. Paris 2025 23 Fig. p. 23
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 09
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, 322, 324 3/11 Fig. p. 323
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 40 Fig. p. 41
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 454, 455 227 Fig. p. 455
AuthorMichael Hofbauer
TitleCranach - die Zeichnungen
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication2010
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976 712 636
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
Schade 1974 99, 101 Pl. 218
AuthorWerner Schade
TitleDie Malerfamilie Cranach
Place of PublicationDresden
Year of Publication1974
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/schade1974
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
Rosenberg 1934 A 189
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

Writing about this drawing M.-H. Montout-Richard states that the former association with Augustus, Elector of Saxony is no longer tenable, citing examples to illustrate differences in the facial features. These observations are reinforced by the age of the model in the sketch. She also rejects other more recent proposals, preferring instead - until more convincing comparisons can be made - to retain the anonymity of the sitter.

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

  • Portrait of an unknown male sitter, about 1545 - 1550

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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]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

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Entry with no author
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