Follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder

Private collection, Innsbruck.

The large single panel is in excellent condition. It is uncradled, flat and stable, with beveling on all four sides. The paint surface is even, the colours strong. There are a few small scattered retouchings in the dark background, visible under Ultraviolet light. This lot is offered in a wooden frame painted dark brown.
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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."

Cranach the Elder, Cranach the Younger and their studio produced multiple versions of this format of Christ as Man of Sorrows, varying principally in the placement of Christ’s hands, the instruments of his torture and the tilt of his head. Friedländer and Rosenberg date examples of this composition to after 1537.¹ The present lot differs from most recorded versions in that Christ appears to be standing upright as opposed to seated.  The closest comparable painting in both composition and style is a work given to Cranach the Elder, now in the Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg (inv. no. M419).²

An IRR image of the present lot is available for inspection (see fig. 1).

1. See M. J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, London 1978,  p. 145.
2. Idem, reproduced fig. 380.