Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon

Title

[North Carolina Museum of Art, revised 2014]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood	[cda 2014]
Pear wood	[http://www.kressfoundation.org/uploadedFiles/Kress_Collection/European%20Paintings%20Excluding%20Italian_catalogue.pdf, 41, K2179]

Melanchthon (1497-1560) is shown at the right in a deferential pose, in characteristic 'deshabille', holding a closed book with both hands. [1] He turns to the left toward the posthumous image of Luther (1483 -1546) who is far larger in bulk, in three-quarter view, facing right, holding an open book (the Luther Bible?) with both hands. Both men are shown in half-length, hatless, in academic garb, against a pale grey-blue background in a composition of extreme horizontal format. Melanchthon's tunic (beneath his gown) is in a style fashionable earlier in the century. The sobriety of their attire is relieved by the band of red (Luther) and a red tunic (Melanchthon). Luther was a close friend of the painter's father, who (with his studio) portrayed the Reformer at least forty times. Melanchthon, the theologian, humanist and scientist, is shown frail and ailing, two years before his death.

[1] for portraits of Melanchthon, see Zimmermann 1960, 127-30; Thulin 1961, 180ff.

[http://www.kressfoundation.org/uploadedFiles/Kress_Collection/European%20Paintings%20Excluding%20Italian_catalogue.pdf, 41, K2179]

Attributions: Lucas Cranach the Younger
Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Younger	[http://www.kressfoundation.org/uploadedFiles/Kress_Collection/European%20Paintings%20Excluding%20Italian_catalogue.pdf, 41, K2179]
Lucas Cranach the Elder	A certificate by Friedländer described the panel as an authentic, signed work of Cranach, without specifying which one. [1] [1]16/VIII/54, Kress Archive [http://www.kressfoundation.org/uploadedFiles/Kress_Collection/European%20Paintings%20Excluding%20Italian_catalogue.pdf, 41, K2179]

Production date: 1558

Production date

1558

[dated]

Dimensions: Dimension of support: 59.4 x 88.3 cm (23 3/8 x 34 3/4 in.)

Dimensions

Dimension of support: 59.4 x 88.3 cm (23 3/8 x 34 3/4 in.)
[North Carolina Museum of Art, revised 2014]

Signature / Dating: Artist's insignia at the top left: serpent with dropped wings, dated '1558' (original date obscured to read 1550 within the lifetime of Cranach the Elder)

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia at the top left: serpent with dropped wings, dated '1558' (original date obscured to read 1550 within the lifetime of Cranach the Elder)
[North Carolina Museum of Art, revised 2014]

Owner: North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
Repository: North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
Location: Raleigh

CDA ID: US_NCMAR_GL-60-17-65
FR (1978) Nr.: FR-none
Persistent Link: https://lucascranach.org/en/US_NCMAR_GL-60-17-65/

Provenance

J. Rosenbaum, Berlin [1]
Hackenbroch, Frankfurt-am-Main
Ludwig Rosenthal (sale London, Sotheby's, 29 Apr. 1937, Cat. No. 108, as dated 1558, by Lucas Cranach the Younger)
New York, David M. Koetser
Kress acquisition 1957

[1] The panel is probably identical with the same subject signed and dated 1558, recorded by Thulin 1961, 190 as formerly owned by the antiquary J. Rosenbaum in Berlin; exhibited New York, Duveen Brothers, Cranach Loan Exhibition, 1960, Cat. No.6, listed as Lucas Cranach the Elder.

[http://www.kressfoundation.org/uploadedFiles/Kress_Collection/European%20Paintings%20Excluding%20Italian_catalogue.pdf, 41, K2179]

Research History / Discussion

The painting is generally based upon portraits of these men by Lucas Cranach the Elder, such as the pair dated 1532 (Dresden, Gemäldegalerie); [1] it has the coarser, more expressionistic quality characteristic of Lucas Cranach the Younger. The immediate models for the panel are the single portraits of Luther and Melanchthon by Lucas Cranach the Younger, signed and dated 1557 (Hamburg, Galerie H. Rudolph) [2]. The Reformers were often shown together in altarpieces by Cranach the younger, but the Kress panel is the artist’s only known painting devoted exclusively to their portraits.

[1]Friedländer, Rosenberg, No. 252

[2] Illustrated in Weltkunst, XXII, 1952, 11, No. 21. An earlier portrait of Luther by Cranach the Younger, close to the panel is dated 1560 (FR423). Lucas Cranach the Younger’s woodcut portrait of Melanchthon of 1560 (B.90) follows that of the panel in reverse.

[http://www.kressfoundation.org/uploadedFiles/Kress_Collection/European%20Paintings%20Excluding%20Italian_catalogue.pdf, 41, K2179]

Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, 1558

Images

Technical studies

03. 2013Technical examination / Scientific analysis

UV-light photography

photographed by North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh

03. 2013Technical examination / Scientific analysis

Infrared reflectography

DESCRIPTION (evaluation on the basis of details)

Tools/Material:

- dark dry drawing material, stylus or dark chalk

Type/Ductus:

- relatively economic underdrawing, in sections copied

- delicate fine lines

Function:

- relatively binding for the final painted version; the lines delineate the main contours, define forms therein and describe facial features; no representation of volume with hatching strokes

Deviations:

- minor correctios were made to forms during the painting process

INTERPRETATION

Attribution:

- Lucas Cranach the Younger or workshop

[Sandner, Smith-Contini, Heydenreich, cda 2017]

photographed by North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh

X-radiography

created by North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh

Condition Reports

Considerable additions to hair of Melanchthon made at unknown date to modify his emaciated appearance near the end of his life. Deep scratch across left side of Luther's head.

[http://www.kressfoundation.org/uploadedFiles/Kress_Collection/European%20Paintings%20Excluding%20Italian_catalogue.pdf, 41, K2179] (accessed 10.08.2014)

Conservation History

Cradled, cleaned and restored by Modestini, 1959/60.

[http://www.kressfoundation.org/uploadedFiles/Kress_Collection/European%20Paintings%20Excluding%20Italian_catalogue.pdf, 41, K2179]

conservation treatment by Modestini

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author: <author's name>, 'Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/US_NCMAR_GL-60-17-65/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author: 'Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/US_NCMAR_GL-60-17-65/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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