Lucas Cranach I (1472-1553)

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY OF TITLE

Details

Lucas Cranach I (1472-1553)

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

signed with the serpent device and dated 1530
on panel
30 1/8 x 22in. (76.7 x 55.8cm.)

Provenance

The Chillingworth Collection; sale, Fisher, Muller and Coulin, Lucerne, 5 Sept. 1922, lot 44, illustrated.
Henry Maclaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway, and Christabel, Lady Aberconway, and by descent to the present owner.

Literature

M.J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg, Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach, Berlin, 1932, p. 65, no. 190d; 2nd ed., The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, London and New York, 1978, p. 115, no. 230D
H. Börsch-Supan, Cranachs "Judith" in der Sammlung des Jagdschlosses Grunewald, in D. Koepplin and T. Falk, catalogue of the exhibition, Lukas Cranach. Gemälde-Zeichnungen-Druckgraphik, Kunstmuseum, Basel, 15 June-8 Sept. 1974, I, p. 418

Lot Essay

The present picture is one of only three dated depictions of this subject by Cranach, all executed in 1530-1, the others being in the hunting lodge at Berlin-Grunewald, and the Suermondt-Museum, Aachen (Friedländer and Rosenberg, op. cit., 1978, p. 116, no. 234, illustrated and p. 115, no. 230G, illustrated by Börsch-Supan, op. cit., p. 414). A painting of which the description accords with the present work was in the Hamilton Palace Sale, Christie's, 17 June 1882, lot 12.

The attribution has been confirmed by Dr. Dieter Koepplin (letter of 25 March 1992)

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