Lot Essay
The original, signed and dated 1529, on panel, 51.5 x 35 cm, is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brussels since 1869.
As pointed out by M.J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg, the sitter has also been identified as Dr J. Scheyring on the basis of a non-contemporary inscription on the original. In comparison with other existant portraits of Dr Scheyring, this theory cannot be supported. The identification of the sitter as Dr Schöner, an astronomer and geographer, was done on the basis of a woodcut portrait of this sitter by the Cranach workshop. As contemporary portraits of this scholar executed by other hands show less similarity, the question of the identity of the sitter in the Brussels portrait is as yet unsolved (see M.J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, 1978, p. 134, no. 331, with ill.)
See illustration
As pointed out by M.J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg, the sitter has also been identified as Dr J. Scheyring on the basis of a non-contemporary inscription on the original. In comparison with other existant portraits of Dr Scheyring, this theory cannot be supported. The identification of the sitter as Dr Schöner, an astronomer and geographer, was done on the basis of a woodcut portrait of this sitter by the Cranach workshop. As contemporary portraits of this scholar executed by other hands show less similarity, the question of the identity of the sitter in the Brussels portrait is as yet unsolved (see M.J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, 1978, p. 134, no. 331, with ill.)
See illustration