A Vanitas or the Three Ages of Man

Titles

A Vanitas or the Three Ages of Man	[Christie's Online database; https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/studio-of-lucas-cranach-i-a-vanitas-6088995-details.aspx; accessed 24 Jan 2018]
St Jerome	[Christie's Online database; https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/studio-of-lucas-cranach-i-a-vanitas-6088995-details.aspx; accessed 24 Jan 2018]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[Christie's Online database, accessed 24..01.2018]

The iconography of this panel remains somewhat elusive to interpretation and can be read either purely as a vanitas or momento mori, or as a depiction of Saint Jerome. The present composition appears to be somewhat unique in paintings produced by Cranach and his studio, perhaps suggesting that it was

[Christie's Online database; https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/studio-of-lucas-cranach-i-a-vanitas-6088995-details.aspx; accessed 24 Jan 2018]

Attributions: Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder (and Workshop)

Attributions

Workshop Lucas Cranach the Elder	[Christie's Onlinedatabase, 24.01.2018]
Lucas Cranach the Elder (and Workshop)	[Exhib. Cat. Zürich 1994, no. 12]
Follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder	[Christie's, London, 16 December 1988, lot 138]

Production dates: after 1521
1530 - 1540

Production dates

after 1521	[cda 2018]
1530 - 1540	[Exhib. Cat. Zürich 1994, no. 12]

Dimensions: Dimensions of support: 50.4 x 34.6 cm

Dimensions

Dimensions of support: 50.4 x 34.6 cm
[Christie's Online database, accessed 24..01.2018]

Signature / Dating: none

Inscriptions and Labels: none

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

none

Owner: Private Collection
Repository: Private Collection

CDA ID: PRIVATE_NONE-P188
FR (1978) Nr.: FR-none
Persistent Link: https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P188/

Provenance

16 December 1988 at Christie's, London, anonymous sale [Property of a Gentleman], lot 138, as 'Follower of Lucas Cranach I'
7 July 2017 at Christie's, London, property from a European Private Collection, lot 132
[Christie's Online database, accessed 24..01.2018]

Exhibitions

Cologne, Zurich 1994, no. 12

Literature

Reference on page

Catalogue Number

Figure / Plate

Exhib. Cat. Zurich 1994

182

012

Fig. 182

Author	Peter Jezler
Title	Himmel Hölle Fegefeuer. Das Jenseits im Mittelalter [Cologne, Zurich]
Place of Publication	Zurich
Year of Publication	1994

Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

Paintings showing the saint meditating on the brevity of life, seated with a skull before him, with the famous precedent established by Albrecht Dürer during his sojourn in the Netherlands in 1521 (Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga), frequently reproduced and adapted by painters. The present vanitas, therefore, can perhaps be seen to follow the same model, using Dürer’s famed example as the basis for its iconography and formal composition.

[Christie's Online database; https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/studio-of-lucas-cranach-i-a-vanitas-6088995-details.aspx; accessed 24 Jan 2018]

A Vanitas or the Three Ages of Man, after 1521

Images

Technical studies

Infrared reflectography

Underdrawing

DESCRIPTION

- an underdrawing is not readily visible

[Sandner, Smith-Contini, Heydenreich, cda 2019]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author: <author's name>, 'A Vanitas or the Three Ages of Man', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P188/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author: 'A Vanitas or the Three Ages of Man', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P188/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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