The Conversion of Saint Paul

The Conversion of Saint Paul

Title

The Conversion of Saint Paul

[Sotheby's online database; http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/old-master-paintings-evening-sale-l08033/lot.63.html?locale=en; accessed 20-03-2019]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[Sotheby's online database; http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/old-master-paintings-evening-sale-l08033/lot.63.html?locale=en; accessed 20-03-2019]

This picture is strongly reminiscent of Lucas Cranach the Younger's signed painting of the same subject dated 1549 in Nuremberg, and must date from around the same time. [1] The figure of Saint Paul clad in armour and the horse from which he falls are particularly similar, and there is

This picture is strongly reminiscent of Lucas Cranach the Younger's signed painting of the same subject dated 1549 in Nuremberg, and must date from around the same time. [1] The figure of Saint Paul clad in armour and the horse from which he falls are particularly similar, and there is a clear relationship between the two works. Both compositions are highly inventive, and find no obvious echoes in repeated compositions emanating from the Cranach workshop or wider circle of influence. Both pictures mark a decisive break with the style of the artist's father Lucas Cranach the Elder.

[1] Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum [DE_BStGS-GNMN_Gm226]

[Sotheby's online database; http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/old-master-paintings-evening-sale-l08033/lot.63.html?locale=en; accessed 20-03-2019]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Younger
Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Younger

[Sotheby's online database; http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/old-master-paintings-evening-sale-l08033/lot.63.html?locale=en; accessed 20-03-2019]

Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger

[cda 2019]

Production date
about 1549

Production date

about 1549

[Sotheby's online database; http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/old-master-paintings-evening-sale-l08033/lot.63.html?locale=en; accessed 20-03-2019]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 93.5 x 83 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 93.5 x 83 cm

  • [Sotheby's online database; http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/old-master-paintings-evening-sale-l08033/lot.63.html?locale=en; accessed 20-03-2019]

Signature / Dating

none

Owner
Private Collection
Repository
Private Collection
CDA ID
PRIVATE_NONE-P268
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P268/

Provenance

  • Count Salemfels (former Director of the Prague Museum)
  • his daughter, P.M. Durand, Château de Chevron, Albertville, Savoie, France
  • Mme. M. Paten, Paris
  • with Duveen, New York, 1960
  • anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 9 December 1981, lot 45 (as Lucas Cranach the Younger), for £36,300, when bought for the Foundation
  • 09.07.2008 auctioned at Sotheby's, London
    [Sotheby's online database; http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/old-master-paintings-evening-sale-l08033/lot.63.html?locale=en; accessed 20-03-2019]
  • 3 Dec 2020 at Hampel, Fine Art Auctions Munich, lot 273
    [Hampel Online Database; accessed 07.07.2022]

Exhibitions

New York, 1960

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. New York 1960
EditorDuveen Brothers
TitleCranach. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)
Place of PublicationNew York
Year of Publication1960
Show Literature
La Farge 1960 12
AuthorH. La Farge
Titlen. t.
JournalArt News
IssueMay 1960
Year of Publication1960
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

In the figure of Saint Paul catapulted forward from his falling horse we see an echo of the turbaned figure at the left of Cranach the Elder's altarpiece of the Martyrdom of Saint Catherine in Budapest. [1] Ludwig Meyer also notes similarities between this picture and Lucas Cranach the Younger's 1549 Preaching of Saint John the Baptist in Braunschweig, and the later Löbnitzer Epitaph of 1562 in Halle.[2]

[1] Ráday Library of the Reformed Church, Budapest [HU_HCBC]

[2] Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum [DE_HAUMB_GG29] & Halle, Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg; see I. Schulze, Lucas Cranach d.J. und die protestantische Bildkunst in Sachsen und Thüringen, Bucha bei Jena 2004, p. 66, reproduced & p. 161, reproduced.

[Sotheby's online database; http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/old-master-paintings-evening-sale-l08033/lot.63.html?locale=en; accessed 20-03-2019]

  • The Conversion of Saint Paul, about 1549

Images

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Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

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<author's name>, 'The Conversion of Saint Paul', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P268/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
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