Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder

Galerie Pardo, Paris;
With Pietro Accorsi, Turin, from whom acquired by the present owner.

The single panel has a slight bow and horse hair is glued to the reverse of the panel. The paint surface is secure and clean. Fine craqulure is apparent throughout. To the naked eye some retouchings are visible in the cloak, as well as some restored damage lower centre, Inspection under UV light reveals scattared localised retouchings in the face along the craquelure, and these are more concentrated in the hands and in the lower chin. Further older and more recent scattered retouchings in the cloak flouresce. Two vertical lines (aprox 25 cm) of restorative work (including the aforementioned damage) can be made out lower centre. Offered in a carved and gilt wood frame with some losses and inactive worm holes.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Probably executed in Cranach's workshop in the 1540s, this portrait represents Martin Luther (1483-1546) at a fairly advanced age, probably in his late forties or early fifties. There is a portrait of the sitter by Cranach himself dated 1539, in which Luther, wearing the same shirt and coat, appears to be slightly more advanced in years, his hair somewhat whiter and his features a little more sunken.¹  It is probable therefore that the present work repeats a lost work by Cranach from the mid 1530s, the sitter thus being depicted at the approximate age of fifty-two. However, although based on a Cranach from the 1530s this workshop production is likely to have been executed in the following decade; Friedländer and Rosenberg attest to the activity of the workshop in this decade at making fairly numerous copies of Cranach's portraits of Luther, as well as those of his friend Philip Melanchthon and of the Dukes of Saxony, all of which were in very high demand both in and outside of Saxony itself. Indeed, the present work is likely to have been originally paired with a portrait of Melanchthon. The pose and positioning of the hands recall another portrait of Luther from 1532 in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.²

1.  Friedländer, p. 154, no. 423, reproduced.
2.  Idem, pp. 130-31, no. 314, reproduced.