St Christopher

Title

St Christopher

[National Gallery of Ireland, revised 2023]

Painting on limewood

Medium

Painting on limewood

[Cat. Dublin 1987, 3, no. 973]

Christopher was a large and strong man who served God by helping people cross a dangerous stretch of water. This panel depicts the moment that Christopher discovered that the child, who weighed so heavily upon his shoulders during the crossing, was in fact Christ.

[NGI online, accessed 04.10.2023]

Coat of arms on

[NGI online, accessed 04.10.2023]

Coat of arms on the reverse, Stangen von Oberledel family:

Arms - argent a Branch bendwise couped and sprouting Gules. Crest - on a barred helm affronty a Panache Gules; Mantled Gules doubled Argent.

[Cat. Dublin 1987, 3, fig. 51]

Attributions: Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attributions

Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder	[NGI online, accessed 14.09.2023]; [Cat. Dublin 1987, 3, no. 973]
Lucas Cranach the Elder	Former attribution in previous NGI catalogues(1971 - 1981) and in the Berlin sale (1934) [Cat. Dublin 1987, 3, no. 973]

Production dates: about 1515 - 1520
about 1515

Production dates

about 1515 - 1520	[NGI online, accessed 14.09.2023]; [Cat. Dublin 1987, 3, no. 973]
about 1515	Friedländer dated the painting to about 1515 in a note of 21.09.1928 written on the back of a photograph, now in a file in the NGI archive [Cat. Dublin 1987, 6, fn.12]; Robert Witt, Courtauld Institute, London in a letter of c. 1934 to Thomas Bodkin, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland [Cat. Dublin 1987, 5, fn. 1]

Dimensions: Dimensions of support: 102.5 x 36.7 x 0.8 cm

Dimensions

Dimensions of support: 102.5 x 36.7 x 0.8 cm
Dimension of the painted surface: 100.9 x 35.1 cm
[Cat. Dublin 1987, 3, no. 973]

Signature / Dating: None

Owner: National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
Repository: National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
Location: Dublin

CDA ID: IE_NGI_NGI-973
FR (1978) Nr.: FR-none
Persistent Link: https://lucascranach.org/en/IE_NGI_NGI-973/

Provenance

possibly from the Baronin Comers collection, Vienna (?) [1]
sale, van Diemen & Company, Berlin, purchased by the National Gallery, November 1934
since 1934 in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland

[1] A letter of c. 1934 from Robert Witt, Courtauld Institute, London to Thomas Bodkin, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland [file no. 973in the archive of the NGI, [Cat. Dublin 1987, 5, fn. 1]

[Cat. Dublin 1987, 3-5, fn. 1, no. 973]
see also [NGI online, accessed 14.09.2023]

Literature

Reference on page

Catalogue Number

Figure / Plate

Cat. Dublin 1987

3-6

973

Fig. 2

Author	David Oldfield
Editor	National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
Title	German Paintings in the National Gallery of Ireland. A complete catalogue
Place of Publication	Dublin
Year of Publication	1987

Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

Robert Witt, Courtauld Institute, London suggests in a letter of c. 1934 to Thomas Bodkin, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland that the painting is probably a wing panel from the missing altarpiece commissioned by the Stangen von Oberledel family. Furthermore he mentions the other wing of St George that had been with a Munich dealer, but whose whereabout were now unknown. The letter in is file no. 973 in the archive of the NGI.

[Cat. Dublin 1987, 5, fn. 1]

The mentioned wing panel depicting St George is probably [PRIVATE_NONE-P538]. The panel has similar dimensions and in 1934 [Exhib. Cat. Munich 1934, no. 26] it was suggested that it could be the portrait of a certain Herr Stangen von Oberledel/Meissen.

[cda 2024]

St Christopher, about 1515 - 1520

Images

Technical studies

1987Technical Examination

Support

- single panel

[Cat. Dublin 1987, 3, no. 973]

Condition Reports

Date1987

'The support may have been trimmed by a few centimeters on the left anf right sides of the panel. This alteration of the width is indicated by the abrupt interruption of the outline of St Christopher's left arm and the cloak over his right leg and by the incompleteness of the octagonal frame and plumage of the coat of arms on the reverse. The panel his split in two places: a slender crack, 7 cm in length, extends from the middle of the painting to the lower border, 18 cm from the right border of the painting. A lower cradle of 32.5 cm in height and an upper cradle of 18 cm in height were placed on the reverse at an unknown date to inhibit further movements of the wood.

The paint surface on the front of the panel is generally in good condition apart from discoloured varnish. A few scratches and gouges are visible in the right sleeve and hand of St Christopher. The paint on the reverse has suffered considerably with large areas of paint loss and retouching throughout the coat of arms. Touches of black pigment in the area of the lower cradle may indicate that the reverse was once painted in its entirety.'

[Cat. Dublin 1987, 3, no. 973]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author: <author's name>, 'St Christopher', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/IE_NGI_NGI-973/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author: 'St Christopher', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/IE_NGI_NGI-973/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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