The Virgin and Child with the infant St John Baptist

The Virgin and Child with the infant St John Baptist

Title

The Virgin and Child with the infant St John Baptist

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 1]

Painting on beech wood (Fagus sp.)

Medium

Painting on beech wood (Fagus sp.)

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 2]

A half-length depiction of the Virgin seated against a black background. The naked infant Christ sits on her lap. Supported by his mother he reaches down to take a grape from the bunch offered to him by the infant St John. The Virgin's long reddish blond is covered by a

A half-length depiction of the Virgin seated against a black background. The naked infant Christ sits on her lap. Supported by his mother he reaches down to take a grape from the bunch offered to him by the infant St John. The Virgin's long reddish blond is covered by a barely visible transparent veil.

[Görres, cda 2016]

Attribution
Lucas Cranach the Elder and Workshop

Attribution

Lucas Cranach the Elder and Workshop

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 5]

Production date
about 1540 - 1545

Production date

about 1540 - 1545

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 4]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 38.8 x 26.2 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 38.8 x 26.2 cm

  • [Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 2]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia at the bottom left: winged serpent with dropped wings, facing left; light yellow paint. Indication of a later addition not given.

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia at the bottom left: winged serpent with dropped wings, facing left; light yellow paint. Indication of a later addition not given.

  • [Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 4]

Inscriptions and Labels

Reverse of the panel (later inscriptions): in black paint: 'WM119' and '351.'
two older handwritten notes

[Heydenreich, examination report …

Inscriptions and Labels

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • Reverse of the panel (later inscriptions): in black paint: 'WM119' and '351.'

  • two older handwritten notes

  • [Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 2]

Owner
Private Collection
Repository
Private Collection
CDA ID
PRIVATE_NONE-P053
FR (1978) Nr.
FR392B
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P053/

Provenance

  • 1917 Eisenach, Wartburg
  • in a letter from 31.05.1950 Feodora, Archduchess of Saxony/Weimar/Eisenach confirmed that: 'The painting is from the family estate of the Archduke of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach and is at present the property of the community of heirs of the Weimar House.' (Das Bild stammt aus dem Besitz der Familie des Grossherzogs von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach und ist z. Zt Eigentum der Erbengemeinschaft des Hauses Weimar.)

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 1]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Kolb 2015 B 182, 185
AuthorKarin Kolb
TitleCarl Heinrich von Heineken und die Cranach-Rezeption im 18. Jahrhundert
Publicationin Kulturstiftung Dessau-Wörlitz, ed., Cranach im Gotischen Haus in Wörlitz, Exhib. Cat. Wörlitz
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2015
Pages179-193
Erichsen 1994 A 158
AuthorJohannes Erichsen
TitleAltäre Lucas Cranachs und seiner Werkstatt vor der Reformation
Publicationin Claus Grimm, Johannes Erichsen, Evamaria Brockhof, eds., Lucas Cranach. Ein Maler-Unternehmen aus Franken, Exhib. Cat. Kronach 1994
SeriesVeröffentlichungen zur bayerischen Geschichte und Kultur
Volume26/94
Place of PublicationAugsburg, Regensburg
Year of Publication1994
Pages150-165
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 392B
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Exhib. Cat. Weimar, Wittenberg 1953
AuthorWalther Scheidig
EditorDeutsche Lucas Cranach Komitee
TitleLucas Cranach Ausstellung. Weimar und Wittenberg
Place of PublicationWeimar, Wittenberg
Year of Publication1953
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932 316b
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1932
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/friedlaender1932

Research History / Discussion

The composition is similar to a slightly larger, now lost version, formerly in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin [DE_smbGG-Lost_559A].

[cda 2021]

  • The Virgin and Child with the infant St John Baptist, about 1540 - 1545

Images

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Technical studies

06.02.2011Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Stereomicroscopy
  • Infrared reflectography
  • X-radiography

Support

The wooden panel (38.8 x 26.2 x 0.5 cm) consists of two horizontally aligned and butt-joined planks. The join is covered both on the recto and on the verso with an fibre application (tow) the left and the right edges of the panel are bevelled on the reverse. The bare wood was left visible on the reverse. [...] The panel may have been trimmed slightly along the bottom edge.

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 2]

Ground and Imprimatura

The panel has a white ground application, which appears to be a chalk ground. The ground extends to the edge of the panel suggesting that it was not fixed in a frame during this process. The edges were later reworked slightly and may have been trimmed slightly.

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 2]

Underdrawing

Infrared reflectography showed only a few lines of underdrawing. The black lines executed with a brush fix the contours and essential details (particularly visible in the Virgin's face). The visibility of the underdrawing is impaired by the grisaille-like underpainting [...] the few lines visible in the infrared reflectogram of the present painting do not permit evaluation.

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 2-3]

Paint Layers and Gilding

Undermodelling

Examination under the stereomicroscope, the x-radiograph and the infrared reflectogram provided evidence, that the entire composition was initially laid in employing different grey tones before it was completed in colour. Single shapes, volume and lighting were specified in various grey nuances. In general the coloured paint was worked up with a stippling technique. Subsequently the transitions of the grisaille-like undermodelling were blurred with a soft hair brush, resulting in a partially streaky structure, for example the torso of the infant Christ and the Virgin's neck. In the Virgin's face the lighting is relatively schematically resolved due to a greater application of lead white. Grisaille-like undermodelling of single pictorial elements was employed over many decades in the Cranach workshop. Modulation of the entire composition in grey tones prior to a final coloured application has to date been identified above all on large format works from the 1540s. In this way a particularly soft tonal gradation could be prepared in the faces, robes or in the sky without employing coloured pigments. At the same time this method of building up the image allowed a intermediate assessment of the intended pictorial effect, which was of particular importance for workshop productions where tasks were divided.

Flesh paint and hair

A further modulation of the facial forms with a lighter admixture of lead white and vermilion pigments followed the grisaille undermodelling. Shadows were created with semi-transparent brown glazes taking the grey undermodelling into account and the light accents were applied in lighter flesh paint. Whereas more red pigments were added to the flesh paint in the cheeks, a blue pigment (azurite?) could be identified in the cool half-shadows. The x-radiograph reflects the confident and systematic modulation of the facial forms. The image was worked up with both stipples and strokes. Considering the scale details like eyes and mouths are confidently executed. The hair was laid in with varying intensities of brown and subsequently nuanced with fine strokes of different colours. The single strands appear to have been executed with different degrees of confidence and precision. While the sequence of painting shows that the hair was executed before the Virgin's white veil, single elegantly formed hair strands were applied over the white paint.

[...]

Draperies

The Virgin's dress which appears green today was originally blue. Under the stereomicroscope blue azurite pigments were clearly visible beneath a brownish coating responsible for the discoloured appearance. Here the paint was generally worked up employing a stippling technique. The red coat was executed in an opaque vermilion admixture, applied with stipples, strokes and in part dots over the grey undermodelling and subsequently routinely finished with red transparent glazes. The white cloth is painted predominantly wet-in-wet with white and black pigments. The folds on the right edge of the painting are less convincing in their execution. The infant John's fur also reflects little interest in details. The x-radiograph reveals that the whole painting process was precisely planned. All the individual shapes were clearly defined. Significant alterations are not apparent.

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 3-4]

Framing

The original frame has not been retained.

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 2]

  • examined by Gunnar Heydenreich

06.10.2010Scientific analysis

  • Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology

Support

The wood species was identified as beech (Fagus sylvatica) by Dr. Peter Klein. The youngest annual ring is from 1530. The painting could therefore not have been created before 1532 taking a minium seasoning period of two years into consideration.

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 2]

  • analysed by Peter Klein

06. 2010Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

Underdrawing

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Materials:

- fluid, black drawing medium; brush

Type/Ductus:

- freehand schematic underdrawing

- thin lines (difficult to interpret as frequently covered by the subsequent paint layers)

Function:

- relatively binding for the final painted version; the lines define the contours of the figures and indicate the facial features; no representation of volume

Deviations:

- minor adjustments were made during the painting process

INTERPRETATION

Attribution:

- not possible

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich cda 2014]

06. 2010Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • X-radiography
  • x_radiograph
  • created by Andreas Krupa

Condition Reports

Date06.02.2011

The painting is in good condition and is stable. Single worm channels and exit holes have been filled and retouched. The Virgin's blue robe is discoloured by a brown coating. The brown glazes of the flesh paint may have been in part thinned slightly during a previous cleaning treatment. It may also be assumed that the dabbed surface texture of the underpaint is more clearly visible today because of the increased transparency of the paint and the slight abrasion. Small retouched losses are among others in the area of the red coat at the bottom edge of the painting.

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 4]

  • examined by Gunnar Heydenreich

Conservation History

Date1996

Varnish removal; removal of the overpaint and fill material; retouching and application of a dammar varnish

[Heydenreich, examination report 2011, 4]

  • conservation treatment by Gertrud Otterbeck

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'The Virgin and Child with the infant St John Baptist', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P053/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'The Virgin and Child with the infant St John Baptist', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P053/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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