Charity

Charity

Title

Charity

[cda 2023]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[cda 2023]

This panel depicts Charity – the personification of motherly love and altruism – as a young, naked woman seated on a stone block beneath a laden apple tree. She is accompanied by four children and breastfeeds the youngest. In the background on the left a mountainous landscape with houses and

This panel depicts Charity – the personification of motherly love and altruism – as a young, naked woman seated on a stone block beneath a laden apple tree. She is accompanied by four children and breastfeeds the youngest. In the background on the left a mountainous landscape with houses and a castle estate is visible.

[cda 2023]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Copy after Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Elder

or copy after Lucas Cranach the Elder [D. Koepplin in a letter from the 27.03.2023; Koepplin Archive]

Copy after Lucas Cranach the Elder

or Lucas Cranach the Elder [D. Koepplin in a letter from the 27.03.2023; Koepplin Archive]

Production date
about 1540 - 1550

Production date

about 1540 - 1550

[D. Koepplin, handwritten note; Koepplin Archive]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 121 x 74 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 121 x 74 cm

  • [D. Koepplin, handwritten note, Koepplin Archive]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia bottom right: serpent with dropped wings

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia bottom right: serpent with dropped wings

  • [D. Koepplin in handwritten note, Koepplin Archive]

  • Not confirmed by the available photographic documentation

  • [cda 2023]

Owner
Private Collection
Repository
Private Collection
CDA ID
PRIVATE_NONE-P616
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P616/

Provenance

  • sold at Kölner Kunst- und Auktionshaus on the 14.10.1919, lot 3
    [Auct. Cat. Cologne 1919, 13, accessed 05.10.2023]
  • with Christie's, London 02.03.2023
    [Handwritten on a photocopy, Koepplin Archive]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Auct. Cat. Cologne 1919 13 3
EditorKölner Kunst- u. Auktionshaus
TitleSammlung von Gemälden alter Meister aus dem Besitz des Geheimrats Dr. Koennecke-Marburg, des Prof. Dr. Wedewer-Wiesbaden sowie aus anderem Privatbesitz [Versteigerung am 14. Oktober und falls nötig 15. Oktober 1919]
Place of PublicationCologne
Year of Publication1919
Link https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/koelner_kunst_auktions_haus1919_10_14
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

The condition documented at Christie's in 2023 shows slight differences in the foliage above Charity's head in comparison to the image from 1919 and may have been retouched. However, the course of several cracks in the support is identical every photograph confirming that it is most probably the same panel.

[cda 2023]

  • Charity, about 1540 - 1550

Images

Compare images
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  • overall
  • koe
  • koe
  • koe
  • koe
  • koe

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Charity', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P616/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Charity', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P616/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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