The Infant Christ as Redeemer

The Infant Christ as Redeemer

Title

The Infant Christ as Redeemer

[Christie's Online database; https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/lucas-cranach-i-and-workshop-the-5958382-details.aspx; accessed 22 Nov 2017]

Painting on panel

Medium

Painting on panel

[Christie's online database, accessed 12.06.2020]

'Holding the apple from the original sin in one hand - the symbol of mankind's fall and demise, and the cross in the other - the instrument of human salvation used here to subjugate the Devil, Christ asserts the redemptive effect of his miraculous birth and sacrifice through his triumph …

'Holding the apple from the original sin in one hand - the symbol of mankind's fall and demise, and the cross in the other - the instrument of human salvation used here to subjugate the Devil, Christ asserts the redemptive effect of his miraculous birth and sacrifice through his triumph over Death and Evil. This sophisticated iconography illustrates the prophetic Old Testament passage from Hosia 13:14: 'O Death, I will be your plagues!' ('O Mors Ero Mors Tua').'

[Christie's Online database; https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/lucas-cranach-i-and-workshop-the-5958382-details.aspx; accessed 22 Nov 2017]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Elder (and Workshop)
Lucas Cranach the Younger and workshop

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Elder (and Workshop)

[D. Koepplin, M. Hofbauer, Christie's online database, accessed 12.06.2020]

Lucas Cranach the Younger and workshop

[W. Schade, Christie's online database, accessed 12.06.2020]

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, no. 222D]

Production dates
1533
about 1535

Production dates

1533

[dated '15[.]3(?)']

about 1535

[D. Koepplin, Christie's Online database, accessed 12.06.2020]

1533

[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, 115, No. 222D]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 39.1 x 25.4 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 39.1 x 25.4 cm

  • [Christie's Online database; https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/lucas-cranach-i-and-workshop-the-5958382-details.aspx; accessed 22 Nov 2017]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia lower centre: serpent and dated '15[.]3' or '15[.]5' (poorly preserved)

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia lower centre: serpent and dated '15[.]3' or '15[.]5' (poorly preserved)

Inscriptions and Labels

None

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

  • None

Owner
Private Collection
Repository
Private Collection
CDA ID
PRIVATE_NONE-P168
FR (1978) Nr.
FR222D
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P168/

Provenance

  • León Kazimierz Sapieha-Pac, Prince Sapieha (1851-1904), Paris; hôtel Drouot, Paris, 15 June 1904, lot 26, as 'Lucas Cranach the Younger'
  • with Charles Sedelmeyer (1837-1925), Paris; his sale, 3-5 June 1907, lot 211, as 'Lucas Cranach the Elder' (2,400 francs to the following)
  • Henri Heugel (1894-1916), publisher of Éditions Heugel, 42, avenue du Bois de Boulogne (now avenue Foch), Paris, and by descent
  • anonymous sale; Sotheby's, 16 December 1999, lot 156, as 'Studio of Lucas Cranach the Younger'
  • 8 Dec 2015 at Christie's, London, lot 7
    [Christie's online database, accessed 12.06.2020]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 No. 222D
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

This is a rare subject in the Cranach oeuvre showing the infant Christ standing in a landscape trampling on Death, represented by a skeleton and a demonic monster as the Devil. Only one other treatment of the subject is known – the picture of the same dimensions, which is generally dated to circa 1534 and attributed to the Workshop of Lucas Cranach I (Schleswig, Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf; DE_SHLM_1996-208).

[Christie's Online database; https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/lucas-cranach-i-and-workshop-the-5958382-details.aspx; accessed 22 Nov 2017]

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  • The Infant Christ as Redeemer, 1533

Overall

File name: PRIVATE_NONE-P168_FR222D_2015_Overall
File type / description: Digital image
Date: 2015
Author & Rights: 2015 Christies Images Limited
Source: 2015 Christies Images Limited

Images

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Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'The Infant Christ as Redeemer', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P168/ (Accessed 29.2.2025)
Entry with no author
'The Infant Christ as Redeemer', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P168/ (Accessed 29.2.2025)

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