Portrait of Chancellor Christian Brück

Cranach the Younger portrayed his slightly younger brother-in-law at the height of his career. Twelve years later, on the 18th of April 1567, Christian Brück was executed in the market square in Gotha. He was involved in a dispute over landownership between Wilhelm von Grumbach, Emperor Maximillian II and Elector August of Saxony, the so-called Grumbach Feud, which resulted in the lifelong imprisonment of the duke and the execution of all others involved.

Lucas Cranach the Younger proves himself to be an outstanding portraitist with this work. It is also a testimony to how he successfully continued running the workshop only two years after his father's death. The portrait study of the chancellor no longer survives, but the design was evidently transferred to the prepared panel using red chalk. The hands were probably chosen from the workshop’s stock of templates. In fact the hands are very similar to those of Elector Johann Friedrich I painted by Titian in 1550. Cranach the Younger evidently knew this painting by the Italian master and adapted the pictorial element and gave it a new context with the pearl chain. […]

The inscription, which is genuine, identifies the sitter as a 37 year old in 1555 and thus it can be concluded that contrary to previous belief Christian Brück was not born until 1518.

[Heydenreich, Exhib. Cat. 2017, 286, no. 179]