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Lot Essay
This monumental epitaph by Lucas Cranach the Younger has only recently been re-discovered, having remained in the same private collection since the late-nineteenth century. It constitutes a significant addition to the artist’s oeuvre and caused a sensation when it was unveiled on the cover of the exhibition catalogue dedicated to the artist in 2015 (op. cit.), following extensive technical examination. The panel is dated 1545, shortly before Cranach the Younger assumed full responsibility over the flourishing family workshop in Wittenberg, following the departure of his father, Lucas Cranach the Elder, for Augsburg in 1550 to join the exiled Elector John Frederick.
Epitaphs served an important commemorative function, both preserving the memory of the deceased and acting as a permanent public reminder to the living to pray for the souls of the departed. While the majority of extant wall memorials are sculpted, they could also take the form of panel painting. More fragile and portable, these painted memorials were more susceptible to the ravages of iconoclasm, wars, revolution and changing tastes than their sculpted counterparts. The survival of so monumental a panel is thus rare and testifies to the high esteem with which it has been held over the centuries. While the identity of the patron has been lost, despite the prominent inclusion of the family’s coat-of-arms in the painting, we can deduce that he would have probably been a devout Lutheran who would have instructed Cranach to adopt a Lutheran theme as subject-matter for his epitaph. According to reformist beliefs, only a few subjects from the New Testament, including the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, were deemed acceptable.
Towering over the composition, a triumphant, resurrected Christ stands on top of His open tomb as a potent symbol of salvation. His billowing drapery and contrapposto stance contrast with the still and formalised position of the kneeling donors. The drama of the scene is heightened by Cranach’s vivid rendering of the sky, as dawn breaks on the Third Day, a feature rarely encountered in the Elder’s work but one that the Younger regularly utilised, particularly in his late paintings, such as the Colditzer Altarpiece (1584; Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum). The younger Cranach developed a strong interest in changing meteorological effects, and like his contemporaries Hans Krell in Leipzig and Georg Busch in Erfurt, must have studied them at length to achieve such compelling atmospheric effects. The cityscape in the middle distance could be intended to represent heavenly Jerusalem and may allude to a pilgrimage undertaken by the donor to the Holy Land.
Infrared imaging (fig. 1) reveals that in the initial stage of painting, the tomb was shown closed, with the seal of the Pope depicted on its side, in line with the belief that Christ rose from the dead ex sepulcro clauso. Cranach’s bold revision in the final design, with the tomb slab turned at a perpendicular angle and projecting forwards, both accentuates Christ’s presence and brings him closer to the viewer. Cranach reverted to the original, closed design when he was commissioned in 1554 by Dr. Leonhard Badehorn, a Lutheran jurist and Mayor of Leipzig, to paint a similarly large-scale epitaph in memory of his wife, Anna (Leipzig, Museum der bildenen Künste), and again at a much later date in circa 1580 when he executed an epitaph for the family of Michael Teuber (Private collection). It is possible that this was at the patrons’ request so that their portraits could gain more prominence and be shown in closer proximity to the subject. However, when representing the theme of the Resurrection on the right wing of the Colditzer Altar in 1584, unencumbered by the need to incorporate portraits into the scene, he once again chose a more dramatic, angled positioning for the tomb slab.
While it is noted on the Cranach Digital Archive (op. cit.) that the insignia and date are probably not original, subsequent technical analysis by the KIKIRPA Institute in Brussels has proven that both are contemporary with the painting (full report available upon request).
Epitaphs served an important commemorative function, both preserving the memory of the deceased and acting as a permanent public reminder to the living to pray for the souls of the departed. While the majority of extant wall memorials are sculpted, they could also take the form of panel painting. More fragile and portable, these painted memorials were more susceptible to the ravages of iconoclasm, wars, revolution and changing tastes than their sculpted counterparts. The survival of so monumental a panel is thus rare and testifies to the high esteem with which it has been held over the centuries. While the identity of the patron has been lost, despite the prominent inclusion of the family’s coat-of-arms in the painting, we can deduce that he would have probably been a devout Lutheran who would have instructed Cranach to adopt a Lutheran theme as subject-matter for his epitaph. According to reformist beliefs, only a few subjects from the New Testament, including the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, were deemed acceptable.
Towering over the composition, a triumphant, resurrected Christ stands on top of His open tomb as a potent symbol of salvation. His billowing drapery and contrapposto stance contrast with the still and formalised position of the kneeling donors. The drama of the scene is heightened by Cranach’s vivid rendering of the sky, as dawn breaks on the Third Day, a feature rarely encountered in the Elder’s work but one that the Younger regularly utilised, particularly in his late paintings, such as the Colditzer Altarpiece (1584; Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum). The younger Cranach developed a strong interest in changing meteorological effects, and like his contemporaries Hans Krell in Leipzig and Georg Busch in Erfurt, must have studied them at length to achieve such compelling atmospheric effects. The cityscape in the middle distance could be intended to represent heavenly Jerusalem and may allude to a pilgrimage undertaken by the donor to the Holy Land.
Infrared imaging (fig. 1) reveals that in the initial stage of painting, the tomb was shown closed, with the seal of the Pope depicted on its side, in line with the belief that Christ rose from the dead ex sepulcro clauso. Cranach’s bold revision in the final design, with the tomb slab turned at a perpendicular angle and projecting forwards, both accentuates Christ’s presence and brings him closer to the viewer. Cranach reverted to the original, closed design when he was commissioned in 1554 by Dr. Leonhard Badehorn, a Lutheran jurist and Mayor of Leipzig, to paint a similarly large-scale epitaph in memory of his wife, Anna (Leipzig, Museum der bildenen Künste), and again at a much later date in circa 1580 when he executed an epitaph for the family of Michael Teuber (Private collection). It is possible that this was at the patrons’ request so that their portraits could gain more prominence and be shown in closer proximity to the subject. However, when representing the theme of the Resurrection on the right wing of the Colditzer Altar in 1584, unencumbered by the need to incorporate portraits into the scene, he once again chose a more dramatic, angled positioning for the tomb slab.
While it is noted on the Cranach Digital Archive (op. cit.) that the insignia and date are probably not original, subsequent technical analysis by the KIKIRPA Institute in Brussels has proven that both are contemporary with the painting (full report available upon request).