Portrait of the Elector Frederick III of Saxony, called the Wise (1463 - 1525)

In 1532, the date of this portrait, John Frederick the Magnanimous (1503-1554), upon his accession to the Electorship, commissioned Cranach and his workshop to paint around 60 small scale portrait pairs of his deceased uncle Frederick the Wise and of his father, Frederick's brother, John the Steadfast (1468-1532) who had succeeded him. These portraits were completed and paid for the following year. The portraits in memory of both the Electors were often accompanied by laudatory verses glued to the panel, as here, and it is highly likely that this painting is one of those commissions. Given the sheer size of this one commission alone, it must be assumed that a large part of these portraits of the Electors were produced with the assistance of Cranach's son and workshop.

[Sotheby's online database; http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2011/omp-am1098/lot.15.html?locale=en; accessed 19-03-2019]