Salome (fragment)

Titles

Salome (fragment)	[cda 2021]
Herodias	[The Speed Art Museum online database, accessed 06.07.2021]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[The Speed Art Museum online database, accessed 06.07.2021]

The panel shows Salome, wearing an outfit that was fashionable at the 16th century Saxon court, consisting of a red dress with decorative slits and a red beret with a feather over a snood embroidered with pearls. Furthermore, she has a choker and a linked chain around her neck. At the bottom edge of the image a few wisps of brown hair suggest that the painting originally included the decapitated head of St John the Bapist.

[cda 2021]

Attributions: Copy after Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Younger

Attributions

Copy after Lucas Cranach the Elder	[Letter D. Koepplin an K. Spence, The Speed Art Museum to D. Koepplin in the Koepplin Archive, 2005]
Lucas Cranach the Younger	[The Speed Art Museum online database, accessed 06.07.2021]

Production dates: about 1535
about 1530

Production dates

about 1535	[The Speed Art Museum online database, accessed 06.07.2021]
about 1530	[Letter K. Spence, The Speed Art Museum to D. Koepplin in the Koepplin Archive, 06.2005]
about 1600 or later	? [cda 2021]

Dimensions: Dimensions of support: 57 × 49.8 cm

Dimensions

Dimensions of support: 57 × 49.8 cm
Dimensions including frame: 73.7 x 66.4 x 5.9 cm
[The Speed Art Museum online database, accessed 06.07.2021]

Signature / Dating: None

Inscriptions and Labels

upper section of the painting: '[H]ERO DIAS'

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

- upper section of the painting:
'[H]ERO DIAS'

Owner: The Speed Art Museum, Louisville
Repository: The Speed Art Museum, Louisville
Location: Louisville

CDA ID: US_TSAM_1968-26
FR (1978) Nr.: FR-none
Persistent Link: https://lucascranach.org/en/US_TSAM_1968-26/

Provenance

'Herodias mit dem Haupte Johannis, auf Holz' by Cranach in an 18th century German auction
[Letter K. Spence, The Speed Art Museum to D. Koepplin in the Koepplin Archive, 06.2005]
Gift of the Museum Collectors to the Speed Art museum, Louisville
[The Speed Art Museum online database, accessed 06.07.2021]

Research History / Discussion

The painting is not listed in the catalogue by Friedländer and Rosenberg from 1932. However, Friedländer did write an expertise on the reverse of a photograph in 1935: ‘In my opinion the painting in this photograph is a work by Lucas Cranach the Elder from about 1530, Max J. Friedländer, Berlin, d. 8.X.1935’

[Letter from K. Spence, The Speed Art Museum to D. Koepplin, 06.2005; Koepplin Archive]

D. Koepplin contradicts this attribution, stating that Friedländer should have realised it is not the work of Cranach. Moreover, he observes that the figure depicted is not Herodias, but rather her daughter Salome.

[Letter from D. Koepplin to K. Spence, The Speed Art Museum, 2005; Koepplin Archive]

Salome (fragment), about 1535

Images

Condition Reports

Observations had during a treatment campaign in 1995: 'The original wood panel had been cut down to a smaller size. Then, both the inscription at the top and wisps of hair at the bottom were painted over, changing the intended context of the painting.'

[The Speed Art Museum online database, accessed 06.07.2021]

Conservation History

Date1995

Conservation treatment

[The Speed Art Museum online database, accessed 06.07.2021]

Versions

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author: <author's name>, 'Salome (fragment)', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/US_TSAM_1968-26/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author: 'Salome (fragment)', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/US_TSAM_1968-26/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

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