Portrait of a Man with a Red Beard

Portrait of a Man with a Red Beard

Title

Portrait of a Man with a Red Beard

[http://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/explore/the-collection/artworks/portrait-of-a-man-with-a-red-beard-890/detailgegevens/] (accessed 12.12.2014)

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[http://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/explore/the-collection/artworks/portrait-of-a-man-with-a-red-beard-890/detailgegevens/] (accessed 12.12.2014)

The panel depicts a half-length portrait of an unknown male sitter against a greenish grey background. His body fills the lower half of the pictorial space. The collar of a white shirt trimmed with fine lace peeps out from beneath the black gown with decorative slits on the sleeves. The

The panel depicts a half-length portrait of an unknown male sitter against a greenish grey background. His body fills the lower half of the pictorial space. The collar of a white shirt trimmed with fine lace peeps out from beneath the black gown with decorative slits on the sleeves. The folds of the plain gown and the ruffled sleeves are barely visible in the dark cloth. The monochrome clothing directs the viewer's attention to the face with its animated, emphatic expression and the soft rendering of the features. The sitter gazes pensively into the distance. His hair and beard are executed with great precision. Fine brushstrokes defining single white strands in the wavy hair, the curls over his ears and particularly in the beard animate the face like highlights.

[Katja Schneider, Exhib. Cat. Wittenberg 2015, No. 3/21, 342] [Translation, cda 2015]

Attribution
Lucas Cranach the Younger

Attribution

Lucas Cranach the Younger

[http://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/explore/the-collection/artworks/portrait-of-a-man-with-a-red-beard-890/detailgegevens/] (accessed 12.12.2014)

Production date
1548

Production date

1548

[dated]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 64 x 48 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 64 x 48 cm

  • [http://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/explore/the-collection/artworks/portrait-of-a-man-with-a-red-beard-890/detailgegevens/] (accessed 12.12.2014)

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia above the sitter's proper right shoulder: winged serpent with dropped wings facing left and dated above '1548'

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia above the sitter's proper right shoulder: winged serpent with dropped wings facing left and dated above '1548'

  • [cda 2014]

Owner
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Repository
Mauritshuis, Den Haag
Location
The Hague
CDA ID
NL_Mh_890
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/NL_Mh_890/

Provenance

  • 1912 Bequest of Cornelis Hoogendijk to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. no. SK-A-2560)
  • on long-term loan from the Rijksmuseum, since 1951
    [http://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/explore/the-collection/artworks/portrait-of-a-man-with-a-red-beard-890/detailgegevens/] (accessed 12.12.2014)

Exhibitions

  • Wittenberg 2015, No. 3/21

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. Wittenberg 2015 342-343 3/21 p. 343
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
Broos, Van Suchtelen 2004 276-277
AuthorBen Broos, Ariane van Suchtelen
EditorQuentin Buvelot
TitlePortraits in the Mauritshuis 1430-1790
Place of PublicationThe Hague
Year of Publication2004
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976 714-716 No. 642 Fig. 353a
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
  • Portrait of a Man with a Red Beard, 1548

Images

Compare images
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  • x_radiograph
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  • analysis
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Technical studies

10. 2015Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

Underdrawing

DESCRIPTION

- An underdrawing is not readily visible

[Sandner, Smith-Contini, Heydenreich, cda 2017]

  • photographed by Gunnar Heydenreich
  • photographed by Ingo Sandner

05. 1998 - 07. 1998Technical examination / Scientific analysis

Support

- slightly convex panel comprising three vertical, wedge shaped, radially sawn, butt-joined, beech planks. The original format and thickness (0.8-1.2 cm) is essentially preserved. Tongue (for inserting into a frame) extends on all edges; slightly trimmed on right edge. Original dark, semi-transparent paint layer on reverse. Fibrous material reinforces the length of the joins on front and reverse [1].

[1]Observed on other early panels as well, including Cranach Charity (National Gallery London NG 2925). See National Gallery Technical Bulletin 18 (1997), p. 21.

Ground and Imprimatura

- thick white chalk ground followed by a non-pigmented isolating layer. Barbe along top and bottom edges indicates ground and paint were applied while the panel was held in a temporary frame.

Underdrawing

- in the face, contours and hatching in brownish red dry medium is visible with the naked eye. Contours of dress possibly in graphite.

Paint Layers and Gilding

- built up in thin layers. Details, such as the hair possibly executed in tempera. Face painted first with a pinkish mid-tone. Warm lights were formed with the addition of thin red, and the shadows, with the addition of transparent brown. Over a thin layer of semi-opaque red earth, fine details in hair were rendered in lead-tin-yellow. The azurite background, applied after the face, was underpainted in grey. Pure azurite added in shadow areas.

[Technical Report, Mauritshuis 1998]

  • examined by Mauritshuis, Den Haag

1974Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • X-radiography
  • x_radiograph
  • created by Mauritshuis, Den Haag
  • Micro-sampling / cross-sections
  • analysis
  • analysis
  • analysis
  • analysis
  • analysis
  • analysis
  • examined by Mauritshuis, Den Haag

Condition Reports

Date2015

The background is very abraded and completely overpainted. In 2014, when the painted was requested for loan to an exhibition it was thought appropriate to remove the very discoloured varnish layer. Research however showed that the background is so abraded that the conservation treatment would take considerable time.

[Condition report, Mauritshuis 2015]

Date2014

Summarized translation of the Dutch text:

  • yellowed varnish, particularly along the right edge

  • examination under the stereomicroscope showed that the image was considerably overpainted

  • due to the extensive abrasion of the paint layers and the necessary retouching required to reintegrate the losses a comprehensive conservation treatment is not advisable at the present and would not be possible in the available time [loan request]. If the painting is to be treated a thorough examination would be necessary (x-radiography, XRF analysis etc.)

[Condition report, Mauritshuis 2014]

  • examined by Sabrina Meloni

Conservation History

Date11. 2014

  • minor intervention

[see: Treatment report, Mauritshuis 2014]

  • conservation treatment by Marya Albrecht

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Portrait of a Man with a Red Beard', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/NL_Mh_890/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Portrait of a Man with a Red Beard', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/NL_Mh_890/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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