Lot Essay
We are grateful to Mr. Ludwig Meyer, of the Archiv fr Kunstgeschichte, Munich, for confirming the attribution to Lucas Cranach I. He dates the present painting to the year 1534. Mr. Meyer believes that it was likely part of a commission to Cranach from Johann Friedrich 'der Grossmtige' von Sachsen, (1503-1554), Elector of the Holy Roman Empire (1532), for paintings of himself and his younger siblings, Marie (1518-1583), Margaret (1518-1535) and Johann Ernst (1521-1563).
Johann Friedrich and his father, Johann 'der Bestndige' von Sachsen were successively Cranach's main patrons from 1505 until his death a half-century later (see, for example, the diptych portraits of Johann and Johann Friedrich by Cranach, sold at Christie's, London, July 6, 1990, lot 42, now in the National Gallery, London). Johann Friedrich married Sibylle von Cleve in 1526, and Cranach also painted her circa 1531 (see for example the painting sold at Christie's, New York, January 31, 1997, lot 107 ($480,000). Marie married Duke Philip I of Pomerania in 1536 and Johann Ernst married Princess Katharina of Braunschweig in 1542. Margaret died without marrying. The present portrait of Margaret von Sachsen is similar in format and dress to Cranach's wedding portrait of her sister, Marie of Saxony, dated 1534, now in the Heissischen Landesmuseum, Darmstadt (see W. Beek, Deutsche Malerei von 1260 bis 1550 im Hessischen Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, 1990, pp. 250-1).
Mr. Meyer believes that the present portrait of Margaret once formed a diptych with a portrait of her younger brother, Ernst, and that the green curtain which hangs down on one side of the Evans painting would have been complemented by a curtain hanging down on the other side in the portrait of Ernst. As Cranach did not regularly sign his court commissions, the absence of his distinctive monogram -- in the form of a serpent device -- should not surprise us, although as Meyer points out, it is also possible that Margaret's lost pendant was signed in its stead.
Mr. Meyer believes that there is another version of the portrait, without the green curtain, formerly in the collection of Walter Schnakenberg, Munich, Germany, 1927. Old photographs of both paintings at F.A.R.L. and in the Witt Library show almost identical paintings with the only recognizable differences being in the knuckle and fingers of the sitter's left hand and in the background. It is conceivable that these differences are as a result of old restorations that were subsequently removed, although the possibility of two distinct versions cannot be discounted, and the Schnakenberg painting is recorded as being 4cm. smaller in height.
Johann Friedrich and his father, Johann 'der Bestndige' von Sachsen were successively Cranach's main patrons from 1505 until his death a half-century later (see, for example, the diptych portraits of Johann and Johann Friedrich by Cranach, sold at Christie's, London, July 6, 1990, lot 42, now in the National Gallery, London). Johann Friedrich married Sibylle von Cleve in 1526, and Cranach also painted her circa 1531 (see for example the painting sold at Christie's, New York, January 31, 1997, lot 107 ($480,000). Marie married Duke Philip I of Pomerania in 1536 and Johann Ernst married Princess Katharina of Braunschweig in 1542. Margaret died without marrying. The present portrait of Margaret von Sachsen is similar in format and dress to Cranach's wedding portrait of her sister, Marie of Saxony, dated 1534, now in the Heissischen Landesmuseum, Darmstadt (see W. Beek, Deutsche Malerei von 1260 bis 1550 im Hessischen Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, 1990, pp. 250-1).
Mr. Meyer believes that the present portrait of Margaret once formed a diptych with a portrait of her younger brother, Ernst, and that the green curtain which hangs down on one side of the Evans painting would have been complemented by a curtain hanging down on the other side in the portrait of Ernst. As Cranach did not regularly sign his court commissions, the absence of his distinctive monogram -- in the form of a serpent device -- should not surprise us, although as Meyer points out, it is also possible that Margaret's lost pendant was signed in its stead.
Mr. Meyer believes that there is another version of the portrait, without the green curtain, formerly in the collection of Walter Schnakenberg, Munich, Germany, 1927. Old photographs of both paintings at F.A.R.L. and in the Witt Library show almost identical paintings with the only recognizable differences being in the knuckle and fingers of the sitter's left hand and in the background. It is conceivable that these differences are as a result of old restorations that were subsequently removed, although the possibility of two distinct versions cannot be discounted, and the Schnakenberg painting is recorded as being 4cm. smaller in height.