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Lucas Cranach the Elder

Madonna and Child, probably c. 1535 or after

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 35

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

overall: 71.2 x 52.1 cm (28 1/16 x 20 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Adolph Caspar Miller

Accession Number

1953.3.1

Artists / Makers

Lucas Cranach the Elder (artist) German, 1472 - 1553

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

upper right, above the Madonna's shoulder, the artist's device, a serpent with folded (?) wings

Provenance

(Probably H. Michels Gallery, Berlin, by 1929).[1] (Van Diemen & Co., New York, by November, 1929).[2] Adolph Caspar Miller, Washington, by April 1937;[3] gift 1953 to NGA.

[1] Unverified, but cited by Friedländer, Max J. and Jakob Rosenberg. Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach. Berlin, 1932: 87, no. 314, repro. (Rev. ed. The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, Amsterdam, 1978, 147, no. 390, repro.). The reproduction caption says "formerly" with H. Michels.

[2] Exhibited at the Van Diemen Galleries, New York; the exact dates of the show are not known, but there was an advertisement for the exhibition in the New York Times, 17 November 1929, section 9. In 1935 the Berlin branches van Diemen and its affiliated galleries were liquidated by order of the Nazis, with sales organized by Graupe on 25 January and 26 April. This painting was not in either of those sales, and thus had been sold from or remained with the New York branch between 1929-1935.

[3] Listed as belonging to Miller in the catalogue of the 1937 exhibition Paintings and Sculpture Owned in Washington, Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington, 1937, no. 6.

Associated Names

Galerie van Diemen & Co.
Michels Gallery, H.
Miller, Adolph Caspar

Exhibition History

1929: Lucas Cranach (1472-1553), Van Diemen Galleries, New York, 1929.

1937: Paintings and Sculpture Owned in Washington, Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington, no. 6.

Technical Summary

The painting is comprised of two boards with vertically oriented grain. A dendrochronological examination by Peter Klein yielded dates of 1406-1453 and 1480-1513 for the boards.[1] The panel has been thinned down to a thickness of 0.2 cm and an auxiliary support added. The support consists of a plywood composite board sandwiched between two thin sheets of wood. The panel was then cradled. Either before or after the panel was thinned, an inset of oak, 16.4 x 17 cm, was added to the top right corner, replacing the original wood and paint, which had been lost. The x-radiograph indicates extensive woodworm damage throughout the panel, and this may be related to the loss of the corner, although it is also possible that this area contained a landscape that was cut out. The x-radiograph also suggests that a knot was removed and replaced with an inset and a filler before the panel was painted, because the craquelure pattern of the paint goes over the inset and also because the worm channels continue into the inset. Examination with infrared reflectography disclosed underdrawing in what appears to be a liquid medium, which is especially visible in the knot of the Madonna's sash.

The painting is not in good condition. In order to disguise the extent of the loss in the top right corner the background has been overpainted; moreover, the original paint is badly abraded. Two splits are visible; one extends upward from the bottom edge through the glass, while the second occurred along the join line. There are numerous other losses, some of which are due to flaking, most of which have been filled and inpainted.

[1] The wood was identified as beech by Peter Klein, examination report, 5 May 1987, in NGA curatorial files, and by the National Gallery's scientific research department.

Bibliography

1932: Friedländer, Max J. and Jakob Rosenberg. Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach. Berlin, 1932: 87, no. 314, repro. (Rev. ed. The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, Amsterdam, 1978: 147, no. 390, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 33.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 27, repro.

1971: Calvesi, Maurizio. "Caravaggio o la ricerca della salvazione." Storia dell'arte 9/10 (1971): 98, fig. 7.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 86, repro. 87.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 165, no. 188, repro.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 165, no. 182, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 104, repro.

1988: Wheeler, Marion, ed. His Face--Images of Christ in Art: Selections from the King James Version of the Bible, New York, 1988: 126, no. 15, color repro.

1993: Hand, John Oliver, with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1993: 31-34, color repro. 33.

1995: Löcher, Kurt. Review of German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries, by John Oliver Hand with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. Kunstchronik 43 no. 1 (January 1995): 15.