Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder

Datable to circa 1520, this is a studio variant of a composition by Lucas Cranach the Elder, the principal version of which is in the Seattle Art Museum.¹ There are some minor differences between the two works, largely confined to the background, and in particular to the hilltop castle and to the branches in the upper left which, in the Seattle panel, protrude from the tree trunk at a higher level thus revealing a larger section of sky to the left of the hill and above the horse's head. Another studio variant, which replicates the Seattle castle but follows the present work in the placement of the tree, was sold, New York, Sotheby's, 10 January 1991, lot 30.

Cranach returned to this subject on numerous occasions; his earliest painted rendition of the theme is the work of circa 1512-14 in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, in which the two male protagonists are dressed the same as in the present work, but are positioned somewhat differently.² The Seattle version aside, Friedländer lists a further ten treatments of the subject, variously attributed to the elder and younger Cranach.³ Cranach the Elder's earliest treatment of the subject is a woodcut from 1508,⁴ to which the earlier panel in Cologne bears a fairly close resemblance; it must therefore have been at some point soon after circa 1514 that Cranach abandoned his fidelity to his original composition in favour of the new Seattle design.

We are grateful to both Dr. Dieter Koepplin and Mr, Ludwig Meyer for identifying this a studio variant of the Seattle panel. Mr. Meyer has dated it to circa 1520 and notes that the authorship of Cranach himself should not be wholly discounted in the figure of Mercury due to the extremely high quality of its execution.  

1. See M.J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, London 1978, p. 93, cat. no. 118, reproduced fig. 118.
2. See I. Hiller & H. Vey, Katalog der Deutschen und Niederländischen Gemälde bis 1550 im Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne 1969, pp. 42-43, reproduced fig. 40.
3. Friedländer, op. cit., nos. 252-258, 409, 409a, 409b.
4. See Hollstein, vol. VI, p. 80 (36.5 by 25.2 cm).

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The panel has horizontal reinforcing bars to the reverse and an unstable central vertical split, along which the paint is unstable. The paint surface is raised elsewhere but secure overall. There are restorations to paint losses in the sky, upper right, to the midriff of the female figure on he left, to the foliage above the top of Venus' head and the helmet, lower left. The delicate scumbles and glazes to the flesh tones and the horse's head have been abraded and strengthened. Areas of good preserved paint include the figures of Mercury and Paris, the foliage and the tree trunk. The removal of the varnish would improve the tonality. Offered in a gilt frame, with some losses."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."