A note of ambiguity or unease often gives a piquant quality to German adaptations of the Renaissance ideal. Cranach's painting of a classical nymph represents an Italian theme but gives it a moralizing twist common to late Gothic courtly and amorous subjects.
The nymph reclines beside a spring, perhaps a reference
A note of ambiguity or unease often gives a piquant quality to German adaptations of the Renaissance ideal. Cranach's painting of a classical nymph represents an Italian theme but gives it a moralizing twist common to late Gothic courtly and amorous subjects.
The nymph reclines beside a spring, perhaps a reference to a legendary ancient Roman fountain with which a Latin verse was associated. The text was translated by Alexander Pope in 1725:
'Nymph of the grot, these springs I keep,
And to the murmurs of these waters sleep;
Ah, spare my slumbers, gently tread the cave!
And drink in silence, or in silence lave!'
The inscription on this painting -- I am the nymph of the sacred spring, do not disturb my sleep. I am resting -- may be an allusion to the poem. Though exposed by modern scholarship as a fifteenth-century counterfeit, the poem influenced Italian garden decoration, which not infrequently included fountains with attendant reclining nymphs. However, the proportions of Cranach's nude are more Gothic than classical, and the robe on which she rests her head is that of a German court lady. Far from sleeping, she admires herself beguilingly through lowered eyelids. The painting is intended both as an enticement and a warning to Cranach's sophisticated patrons.
[http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=43716] (accessed 08.02.2013)
- Attribution
- Lucas Cranach the Elder
Attribution
| Lucas Cranach the Elder | [http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=43716] (accessed 08.02.2013) |
- Production date
- after 1537
Production date
| after 1537 | [http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=43716] (accessed 08.02.2013) |
- Dimensions
- Dimensions of support: 48.4 x 72.8 cm (19 1/16 x 28 11/16 in.)
Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 48.4 x 72.8 cm (19 1/16 x 28 11/16 in.)
Dimensions including frame: 62.9 x 87.6 cm (24 3/4 x 34 1/2 in.)
[http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=43716] (accessed 08.02.2013)
- Signature / Dating
Artist's insignia to the right of the inscription: winged serpent with folded wings, facing left
Signature / Dating
Artist's insignia to the right of the inscription: winged serpent with folded wings, facing left
[http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=43716&detail=ins] (accessed 08.02.2013)
- Inscriptions and Labels
- top left:
'FONTIS NYMPHA SACRI SOM: / NVM NE RVMPE QVIESCO'
(I am the Nymph of the Sacred Spring. …Inscriptions and Labels
Inscriptions, Badges:
- top left:
'FONTIS NYMPHA SACRI SOM: / NVM NE RVMPE QVIESCO'
(I am the Nymph of the Sacred Spring. Do not disturb my sleep. I am resting.)
[http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=43716&detail=ins] (accessed 08.02.2013)
- Owner
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.
- Repository
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.
- Location
- Washington
- CDA ID
- US_NGA_1957-12-1
- FR (1978) Nr.
- FR403
- Persistent Link
- https://lucascranach.org/en/US_NGA_1957-12-1/
- top left:
Provenance
- Probably Baron von Schenck, Flechtingen Castle, near Magdeburg [1].
- (Bohler and Steinmeyer, Lucerne and New York, 1931-1933) [2].
- Clarence Y. Palitz [d.1958], New York, by 1939 [3]
- gift 1957 to NGA
[1] Max J. Friedländer and Jacob Rosenberg. Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach. (Berlin, 1932), 53-54, nos. 123-124 (Rev. ed. The Paintings of Lucas Cranach. Amsterdam, 1978, 99, nos. 145-146, repro.), cites the painting as being formerly in the von Schenck collection, though this is not verified.
[2] Information from a copy of the Böhler stock records in the Getty Provenance Index, Santa Monica; letter of 18 August 1988, from Martha Hepworth to Sally E. Mansfield, in curatorial files. The painting is listed as being on consignment from "Sarasota," it has not been possible to verify Hepworth's suggestion that this might refer to John Ringling. A notation in the stock records suggests that the painting passed to the dealer Paul Cassirer, but it has not been possible to confirm this. Böhler and Steinmeyer was the firm created by Julius Böhler, Munich, and Fritz Steinmeyer, Lucerne, and operated from the 1920s on; see letter of 29 August 1988, in curatorial files, from Julius Böhler to John Hand.
[3] Listed as being in his collection in the Exhibition catalogue Classics of the Nude, New York, 1939, no. 54.
[http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=43716&detail=prov] (accessed 008.02.2012)
Exhibitions
1939 New York, No. 5A
1939 New York, No. 59
1940 San Francisco, No. 137
1998 Madrid, No. 253
2003 - 2004 Stockholm, No. 2
Literature
| Reference on page | Catalogue Number | Figure / Plate | |||||||||||||||||
| Cat. Coburg 2018 | 92, fn. 20 | under no. 15 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Depoorter 2010 | 22-24 | Fig. | |||||||||||||||||
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| Exhib. Cat. Brussels 2010 | 195-196 | 112 | pp. 196, 206-207 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Werner 2010 | 31, 37, 38, 39 | p. 37 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Hand 2004 | 132-133 | No. 100 | Fig. | ||||||||||||||||
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| Noll 2004 | 396-397, 575 | Fig. 187 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Exhib. Cat. Stockholm 2003 | No. 2 | Fig. | |||||||||||||||||
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| Exhib. Cat. Washington 2000 | 110 | Fig. 88 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Exhib. Cat. Madrid 1998 | No. 253 | Fig. | |||||||||||||||||
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| Apostolos-Cappadona 1996 | 87 | Fig. 27 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Löcher 1995 A | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Cat. Washington 1993 | 34-40 | Fig. p. 37 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Hand 1993 | 71 | Fig. | |||||||||||||||||
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| Exhib. Cat. Washington 1991 | 259-260 | No. 158 | Fig. p. 260 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Cat. Washington 1985 | 105 | Fig. | |||||||||||||||||
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| Gregory 1985 | 1304-1305 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Cat. Washington 1984 | 165 | No. 183 | Fig. | ||||||||||||||||
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| Wolff 1983 | unpaginated | Fig. | |||||||||||||||||
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| Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 | No. 403 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Börsch-Supan 1977 | 21 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Wernli 1977 | 134-137 | No. 23 | |||||||||||||||||
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| CDA.Cat. Washington 1975 A | 165 | No. 189 | Fig. | ||||||||||||||||
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| CDA.Cat. Washington 1975 B | 86 | Fig. 87 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Bonicatti, Cieri 1974 | 280 | No. 42 | Fig. 15 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976 | 638 (Bd. 2) | 547 (u.) | |||||||||||||||||
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| Schade 1974 | 69, 70 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Cat. Oslo 1973 | 376 | No. 832 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Murates 1973 | 518-525 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Kemp 1969 | 12-17 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| CDA.Cat. Washingtion 1968 | 27 | No. 1497 | Fig. | ||||||||||||||||
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| Galvan 1968 | 35 | Fig. 5, p. 26 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Liebmann 1968 | 436 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Talbot 1967 | 68, 78-85 | Fig. 8 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Cat. Washington 1965 | 34 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Rosten 1962 | 52 | Fig. p. 53 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Rosenberg 1960 | 22 | No. 40 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Rosten 1959 | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Kurz 1953 | 176 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Exhib. Cat. New York 1939 | No. 59 | Fig. | |||||||||||||||||
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| Exhib. Cat. New York 1939 A | No. 5A | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932 | 89 | 324 | |||||||||||||||||
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Research History / Discussion
From the Tour: German Painting and Sculpture in the Late 1400s and 1500s
A pseudoclassical legend proposed that a statue of a nymph was found on the banks of the Danube River. Cranach portrayed the nymph as a seductive German woman resting on her bundled gown. Her nudity is emphasized by her jewels and filmy veils. A Latin inscription warns, "I am the nymph of the sacred spring. Do not disturb my sleep. I am resting." Coyly, however, this nymph peers through half-open eyes. Her bow and quiver of arrows are attributes of Diana, the mythological goddess of the hunt, who also symbolizes chastity. The game birds could refer to Diana or to Venus, the goddess of erotic love. Thus the subject is tantalizingly ambiguous.
For his courtly patrons, Cranach provided several versions of this provocative theme. On the rock above the spring is the artist's device, a winged serpent. In 1508 the Saxon duke ennobled Cranach, who thereafter often signed his paintings with a flying-serpent motif.
[http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=43716&detail=note] (accessed 08.02.2013)
'There are more than sixteen painted depictions of this subject [The Nymph of the Spring] and a drawing (formerly Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden by Cranach and his shop [1]. Because of variations in the details of the setting and the pose of the nymph, no two works are exactly the same. The precise source for the pose of Cranach's nymph is not known, although several authors have called attention to the similarities to Giorgione's 'Venus' (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden) or suggested that Giorgione might have painted a version, now lost, of the Nymph of the Spring [2]. Furthermore, Cranach might have been influenced by the woodcut depiction of a sleeping fountain nymph and satyr in Francesco Colonna's 'Hypnerotomachia Polophili', or Italian prints such as Girolamo Mocetto's engraving of 'Amymone', c. 1500/1514, or the drawing attributed to Dürer of 'The Nymph of the Spring', c. 1514. It is possible that Cranach might have known an antique source for the reclining figure, perhaps through a drawing or a print [3].
The earliest versions of the theme, the paintings in the Staatliche Schlösser uund Gärten, Jagdschloss Grunewald, Berlin, dated c. 1515/1516, and the Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, dated 1518, simply show the nymph lying in front of the fountain [4]. The drawing formerly in Dresden, usually dated c. 1525, is probably the first image to include what might be called the secondary attributes – the bow, arrows in a quiver, and partridges – that are found in the National Gallery's panel [5]. Somewhat later than the drawing are the paintings containing these objects in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, Lugano, dated between c. 1526/1530 and c. 1530/1535, and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, dated 1534 [6].
Because of the folded wings of the serpent in the artist's device, the Washington version of 'The Nymph of the Spring' is dated after 1537. Koepplin and Falk find stylistic similarities with the version in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besancon, which they date c. 1540/1550 [7]. Comparison can also be made to the version in the Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, dated 1550 [8].
Even though late in date, the National Gallery's painting is to be grouped with the works of Lucas Cranach the Elder and is different in style and execution from those versions in Kassel and New York that are likely to be by Lucas the Younger [9].
[1] DE_SPSG_GKI1926_FR119A; DE_MdbKL_757_FR119; ES_MTB_115-1986-13_FR120; FR120A; FR259; FR232C; FR402; FR402A; FR403A; FR403B; FR403C; FR404; DE_BRD-KHB_935-1966-7_FR-none; formerly Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden, pen and brown ink and grey wash, 116 x 206 mm, [Rosenberg 1960, 22. No. 40] dated the drawing c. 1525; Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, 1533, 37 x 24 cm [Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974, Bd. 2, No. 546, Fig. 316]; Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, 1550, 71.5 x 122 cm [Cat. Oslo 1973, 376, No. 832]; Earl of Crawford and Balcarres collection in 1958, 35.6 x 24.1 cm. Photograph in NGA photographic archives. Art market, Switzerland, in 1970, 46.5 x 72 cm [Pantheon 28 (1970), 271]
[2][Glaser 1921, 100-101] in discussing the Leipzig version of 1518, was apparently the first to see the influence of Giorgione's 'Venus' on 'The Nymph of the Spring'. This view was accepted by several subsequent authors, among them [Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932, 49, No. 100], [Kurz 1953, 176], however, suggested that the prototype might have been a lost painting by Giorgione depicting Venus resting after the hunt with a herd of deer in the background. [Bonicatti, Cieri 1974, Fig. 15], reproduce a Giorgionesque drawing of a nymph and faun with a deer in the background. And as noted by Kurz, deer appear in the background of Cranach's drawing in Dresden.
[3] [Liebmann 1968, 435-437], emphasizes the importance of the 'Hypnerotomachia Poliphili', published in Venice in 1499. For Mocetto's engraving of 'Amymone' as a possible allegory of Mantua see [Kemp 1969, 12-17]. For discussions of the complicated questions of the sources and interpretation of Cranach's depictions of the Nymph of the spring and their relation to other images see [Murates 1973, 518-525]; [Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974, Bd. 1, 426-432, Bd. 2, 631-641]; [Schade 1974, 69-70]; [Bonicatti, Cieri 1974, 272-285]; [Wernli 1977, 134-137, No. 23].
[4] DE_SPSG_GKI1926_FR119A; DE_MdbKL_757_FR119
[5] Formerly Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden, pen and brown ink and grey wash, 116 x 206 mm, [Rosenberg 1960, 22. No. 40] dated the drawing c. 1525
[6] ES_MTB_115-1986-13_FR120, FR259. [Börsch-Supan 1977, 21-22] sees the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection painting as the point of departure for later versions, and this was discussed in light of Cranach's workshop practice by Löcher and Koepplin in an addendum.
[7] [Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974, 638, under no. 547]
[8] Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, 1550, 71.5 x 122 cm [Cat. Oslo 1973, 376, No. 832]
[9] FR403A, FR403B. Werner Schade, conversation with the author, 31 October 1990, expressed his belief that the National Gallery’s panel might be by Lucas Cranach the Younger.
[Hand, Cat. Washington 1993, 35-39]