Lot Essay
This relates to a popular composition by Lucas Cranach the Elder, of which the prototype is in the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia (inv. no. 71.484). Friedlander and Rosenburg list seven other versions, ascribed to Cranach the Younger and studio, including one (no. 364A), which is also dated 1540 (see M. J. Friedländer and J. Rosenburg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, London, 1978, pp. 141-2, under no. 364).