Prague Altarpiece [left wing, fragment]: Female Saint (Apollonia?)

While the connection between the four fragments in Prague, Karlsruhe and Aschaffenburg was already identified by Max J. Friedländer and Jakob Rosenberg the fifth fragment (private collection) was only discovered in 2003 on the art market. In 2005 the separated parts were first shown together again in Prague. The original Marian retable that boasted an impressive height of about 2.2 to 2.5 meters is for stylistic and historical reasons dated to about 1520. This time frame is debatable since it has not yet been established who commissioned this ambitious work from Lucas Cranach. The client should possibly be sought among the Habsburg family as the Lady Chapel in Prague was traditionally reserved for the commemoration of rulers. At the First Congress of Vienna held in 1515 Emperor Maximilian I formed close ties with the Jagellonian dynasty, a relationship that was further consolidated by the ensuing double wedding. In 1521 his grandson Ferdinand I married Anna of Bohemia and in 1527 he was crowned king of Bohemia in Prague. In terms of content the concept for the Marian retable is exceptional and an advisor with considerable theological knowledge must have assisted Cranach. The martyrs on the central panel – the four virgines capitales Barbara, Catharine, Margaret and Dorothy – can be identified by their attributes as well as by the texts shown on manuscript sheets in gothic script. Agnes and Christine on the side wings can be identified by the associated text, while remnants of Ursula’s attribute the arrow confirm her identity. Hans Georg Thümmel who in 1994 presented the first extensive reconstruction of the altar characterized the intercessional prayers in Latin as compositions loosely based on the Marian antiphons. A complete source has been determined for Christine’s address. (Hesbert 1970, S. 71, Nr. 6278)"

[Horky, Exhib. Cat. Düsseldorf 2017, 182, No. 88]