Lucas Cranach II

Collection: H.C.W.;
Anonymous sale, Brussels, Fievez, 18 December 1928, lot 28;
Stefan von Auspitz collection, Vienna, by 1931 (inventory number 862: "Cranach, weibl. Bildnis, Kniestück, roter Hintergr.");
Kurt Walter Bachstitz, The Hague, acquired from the trustee in bankruptcy of the above and by whom shipped to New York, Kansas and Baltimore 1 January 1932;
Possibly Dr. Daniel George van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1933;
Anonymous sale ("Property from a Private Collection"), London, Christie's, 5 July 2007, lot 48, for $3,656,912, there purchased by, Colnaghi, London, from whom purchased by the present collector. 

M.J. Friedländer & J Rosenberg, Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach, 1932, cat. no. 283c; and revised edition, London 1978, p. 138, cat. no. 349D.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been recently restored and should be hung as is. The grain of the panel runs horizontally and there is a crack running from right to left though the sitters hands. There is a second horizontal join in the panel running horizontally through the chest of the figure which has also received restoration. The reverse of the panel has been thinned and cradled, and in its current condition the panel and paint layer are stable. Cranach painted the figure onto a simple blond background. This pale colored portion of the picture has developed some condition issues which do not appear to have occurred in the remainder of the painting. The figure seems to be very well preserved and under ultraviolet light and to the naked eye we cannot identify any restorations except those addressing the two breaks in the panel mentioned above and some small corrections to the ringlets on the sleeve on the left side. There are also probably some retouches in the dark portion of the dress in the lower right, but these seem to be minor. The background, the center left and lower left are very consistently retouched. Some of this retouching is probably driven by legitimate damage but given the complexity of the cracking and simplicity of the color in this area, the retouches are probably exaggerated in order to properly integrate them into the surrounding area. In the center of the right side there is another area of retouching. There are a few other retouches in the upper background and in the lower right but these are not significant. In the face there are a couple of tiny dots above each eye and a thin scratch in the chin but the figure has survived beautifully. The retouching has been beautifully executed and is very mindful of the artist's intentions while perfectly disguising even the most intricate textures in the background. The condition and the retouches in the background are certainly impressive.
"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."

The Young Lady Three Quarter Length, in a Geen Velvet and Orange Dress and Pear-Embroidered Black Hat is a wonderfully insightful character study, in which Lucas Cranach the Younger combines acute realism with courtly refinement. The faithful attention to the details of costume and jewelry are dazzling. 

This elegant portrait is characteristic of the style Cranach perfected during his years in Wittenberg studying with his father.  The sitter, with her black velvet hat embroidered with an intricate pattern of pearls, jeweled necklace and elaborate dress, is clearly from the aristocracy.  Cranach takes great pains to describe the minute details of her costume in its splendid variety of color and texture.  In almost invisible brush strokes he paints the heavy velvet of her dress, contrasting the vibrant shades of deep hunter green and russet orange.  He then adds a green foliage brocade pattern created in delicate lines over the russet orange.   Her necklace and bodice are equally complex; her delicate white ruffled blouse and underskirt capture the beauty of the delicate material, which the artist has left ever so slightly transparent. 

Both Dr. Dieter Koepplin and Dr. Werner Schade confirmed the attribution to Lucas Cranach the Younger when this striking portrait was sold in London in 2007. Both scholars suggested a date of circa 1541 for the portrait, based on the close stylistic similarities to a male portrait, signed and dated 1541, painted on a panel of the same dimensions but with a blue/green background.¹  Since then Michael Hofbauer of the Cranach Research Institute has suggested that it may in fact be a collaborative work between Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger from the period around 1533. He compares the plastic modelling of the sitter's face, as well as the details of her costume including the hat, chain and collar medallion to the Portrait of an Aristocratic Saxon Gentleman, possibly Gregor Brueck, that is on loan to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, and formerly in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.²

The portrait is also very close stylistically to a beautiful female portrait by Lucas Cranach, the Younger in the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, whose companion portrait is dated 1543.  Both portraits show elegant women, resplendent in fine jewelry, their heads slightly turned to the left and with their hands clasped below their waist. Although the pose of the present sitter might suggest that the picture originally had a pendant, none has ever been connected and the direct outward glance of the sitter suggests that that it was equally likely to have been conceived as a single portrait in its own right.  Interesting to note is the pronounced pentiment in the drawing of the hands, and infrared reflectography reveals that the position of the hands was moved completely (see fig. 1).  While Lucas Cranach's portraits of men are very individualized, his portraits of young women seem to represent more of an idealized figure than a specific person. Here, Cranach abandons the earlier localized interior settings of his father's portraits and places his sitter against a stark plain background. This striking simplicity and lack of background detail only enhances its very contemporary aspect.

Like many modern artists, Picasso looked to the history of art for inspiration. Particularly during the period from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, Picasso focused with particular intensity on individual works by Old Masters, making variations in painting, drawing, sculpture, and prints. In this instance Picasso tacked a reproduction of a Portrait of a Noble Woman by Lucas Cranach the Younger dated 1564 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna very similar to this work, to his studio wall and it became the basis for a series of linoleum cuts by the artist. The work of these historic figures had a catalytic impact on Picasso at a time when contemporary art, for example the various forms of Abstract Expressionism, were going in directions counter to his own aesthetic concerns. It is no wonder that Picasso was moved to create a series of lino-cuts inspired by a very similar work by the artist.  The contemporary aspect of the portrait is quite remarkable.

1.  Sold Dorotheum, Vienna, 20 March 1995, lot 393.
2.  See M.J. Friedländer & J Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, London 1978, no. 341.