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Lot Essay
This arresting portrait has at various times been considered a depiction of Sibyl of Cleves, wife of John Friedrick; Princess Sibyl of Saxony, daughter of Katherine of Saxony and Henry the Devout; or Katherine of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen. It has also been attributed to both Cranach the Elder and Younger. Although an unusual example of a portrait drawn on vellum, it is not unprecedented medium for the Cranachs.
The present lot seems closely related to a preparatory oil sketch on prepared paper now in the Musée des Beaux-arts in Reims (Hofbauer, op. cit., pp. 442-43, no. 221). It is certainly the same woman in both works, but the Reims drawing is slightly larger (30.5 x 20.2 cm.). The Reims drawing, with its light, loose strokes indicating the contours of the face and clothing, and with its more delicate rendering of the facial features - gives some indication how the vellum portrait could have been built up to its highly finished state. While it is difficult to determine if there is any chalk underdrawing beneath the pigment, there are fine strokes of bodycolor that indicate some sort of preliminary idea being sketched out on the vellum.
The present lot seems closely related to a preparatory oil sketch on prepared paper now in the Musée des Beaux-arts in Reims (Hofbauer, op. cit., pp. 442-43, no. 221). It is certainly the same woman in both works, but the Reims drawing is slightly larger (30.5 x 20.2 cm.). The Reims drawing, with its light, loose strokes indicating the contours of the face and clothing, and with its more delicate rendering of the facial features - gives some indication how the vellum portrait could have been built up to its highly finished state. While it is difficult to determine if there is any chalk underdrawing beneath the pigment, there are fine strokes of bodycolor that indicate some sort of preliminary idea being sketched out on the vellum.