Judith with the head of Holofernes

Judith with the head of Holofernes

Title

Judith with the head of Holofernes

[unpublished examination report G. Heydenreich, Nov 2015]

Painting on beech wood

Medium

Painting on beech wood

[Unpublished examination report, G. Heydenreich, Nov 2015]

The panel painting depicts Judith with the head of Holofernes against a dark wall with a view of a landscape through an open window. She is wearing a red dress with a high collar and a red hat with ostrich feathers, as well as gloves, and a linked chain and

The panel painting depicts Judith with the head of Holofernes against a dark wall with a view of a landscape through an open window. She is wearing a red dress with a high collar and a red hat with ostrich feathers, as well as gloves, and a linked chain and band around her neck.

Attribution
Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attribution

Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder

[unpublished examination report G. Heydenreich, Nov 2015]

Production date
1530

Production date

1530

[dated]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 51.1 x 36.5 x 0.3 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 51.1 x 36.5 x 0.3 cm

  • [unpublished examination report G. Heydenreich, Nov 2015]

Signature / Dating

None

Inscriptions and Labels
  • on the reverse: label: 'Lempertz 355906'

  • on the cradle:
    notes: '355906', '13782', '13782'
    [unpublished examination report G. Heydenreich, Nov …

Inscriptions and Labels

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

    • on the reverse: label: 'Lempertz 355906'
    • on the cradle:
  • notes: '355906', '13782', '13782'

  • [unpublished examination report G. Heydenreich, Nov 2015]

Owner
Private Collection
Repository
Private Collection
CDA ID
PRIVATE_NONE-P145
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P145/

Provenance

  • Private Collection, Germany
  • 6.6.1973 auctioned at Lempertz, Cologne, Lot. 36
  • Collection consul Scheibler, Cologne. - 533
  • 14.11.2015 auctioned at Lempertz, Cologne, Lot. 1406
    [unpublished examination report G. Heydenreich, Nov 2015]
  • Judith with the head of Holofernes, 1530

Images

Compare images
  • overall
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  • overall
  • reverse
  • irr

Technical studies

11. 2015Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Stereomicroscopy
  • Infrared reflectography
  • UV-light photography
  • X-radiography
  • Other imaging techniques
  • reverse
  • irr

Support

The wooden panel consists of beech wood planks aligned with the grain running horizontally. On the reverse there is a bevel running along the right, left and bottom edges, c. 5mm in width. The reverse was later thinned and a cradle was attached. The panel may have been trimmed slightly at the top and bottom. A fibrous material was applied over the joins on the recto.

The suppport is a wooden panel and has the dimensions of a standard format 'C'.[1] Beech wood panels of this size with horizontally aligned planks and a similar fibrous application were frequently used in the Cranach workshop between 1522 and 1535.

[1] Heydenreich 2007, S.43.

Ground and Imprimatura

The panel has a white ground on the recto. There is a barbe on the left and right edges of the panel.

Underdrawing

An underdrawing could not be made visible employing infrared reflectography.

During a period from about 1530 to 1540 numerous paintings were created in the Cranach workshop where no underdrawing can be detected using infrared reflectography.

Paint Layers and Gilding

Employing XRF spectroscopy the following elements were detected, and by comparing optical characteristics the following pigments were identified:

blouse: white: Pb: lead white, Ca: chalk/calcium sulphate, Cu: copper pigment?

chain:, yellow: Pb: lead white, Sn, Pb: lead-tin-yellow, cu: copper pigment (azurite/mountain green/verdigris), Hg: vermilion, Fe: ochre/iron oxide, Ca: chalk/calcium sulphate

dress: red: Pb: lead white, Cu: copper pigment (azurite/mountain green/ verdigris), Hg: vermilion, Fe: ochre/iron oxide, Ca chalk/calcium sulphate

hair: brown/yellow: Pb: lead white, Sn, Pb: lead-tin-yellow, Cu: copper pigment (azurite/ mountain green/ verdigris), Hg: vermilion, Fe: Ochre/iron oxide, Ca: chalk/calcium sulphate

horizon, blue: Pb: lead white, Sn, Pb: lead-tin-yellow, Cu: copper pigment (azurite/ mountain green/ verdigris), Hg: vermilion, Fe: ochre/iron oxide, Ca: chalk/calcium sulphate

horizon, green: Pb: lead white , sn, Pb: lead-tin-yellow, Cu: copper pigment (azurite/ mountain green/ verdisgris), Hg: vermilion, Fe: ochre/iron oxide, Ca: chalk/calcium sulphate

blood on the sword: red: Pb: lead white, Cu: copper pigment (azurite/ mountain green/ verdigris), Hg: vermilion, Fe: Ochre/iron oxide, Ca: chalk/calcium sulphate

sleeve, black: Pb: lead white, cu: copper pigment (azurite/ mountain green/ verdigris), Hg: vermilion, Fe: ochre/iron oxide, Ca: chalk/calcium sulphate

nose, flesh paint: Pb: lead white, Zn: zinc white (retouching), Cu: Copper pigment (azurite/ mountain green/ verdigris)

The pigments identified (lead white, lead-tin-yellow, iron oxide, vermilion, azurite, copper green) were all used in Cranach the elder's workshop as well as other 16th century and later workshops. The paint applicatioin corresponds with the usual practice within the Cranach workshop. Certain elements and forms can be found on other works from the Wittenberg workshop production. The execution the present painting is less convincing than that of the version in Glasgow (35.671).

[Unpublished examination report, G. Heydenreich, Nov. 2015]

  • examined by Gunnar Heydenreich

11. 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

2015Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • X-radiography
  • created by Gunnar Heydenreich

Condition Reports

Date11. 2015

  • reverse

The panel painting is visible damaged. In particular the flesh paint and the region around the join are abraded and exhibit losses, that have in part been retouched and overpainted. The eyebrows and eyes have been extensively retouched. Using XRF spectroscopy zinc was dectected on the nose. The man on horseback and the soldier in the background are in a fragmentary state. In numerous areas of the painting protrusions are visible in the paint layers, that is to say large semi-transparent, partially raised inclusions.

  • examined by Gunnar Heydenreich

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Judith with the head of Holofernes', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P145/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Judith with the head of Holofernes', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P145/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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