Cranach, Lucas d.Ä. (nach)

Description:

Kronach 1472 - Weimar 1553
75 x 59 cm, o.R.
Christ as the Man of Sorrows. Oil/oakwood, verso old lacquer seal with the coat of arms Kregel von Sternbach and inscribed "PIETATIS CAUSSA DONARIUM HOC AFFIM SUO DN BG DE KOSERITZ Sr. C.F.K. DE STERNBACH MDCCXXXVI.
Important Bavarian private collection, collected fom the 1950s to 1990s.
Dendrochronical examination by Prof. Dr. Peter Klein, Hamburg, Sept. 2022.
Cf. figures at Cranach Digital Archive s.v. Schmerzensmann.
The dendrochronological examination of the oak panel revealed a probable date of origin for the painting after 1593. So this (true-to-size) copy based on Cranach's version of Schloss Gottorf (before 1537) might be an example for the around 1600 nascent recovery of Early German Painting, also known as the Second Dürer Period or Dürer Renaissance. The Cranach Digital Archive lists about 20 figures in individual representations from the immediate workshop circle of the older or younger Cranach, as well as a privately owned copy, based on the painting of the Man of Sorrows on the Coburg Veste. The chronological frame of origin (it is very likely that no dendrochronic investigations were available) is given as 1600-1710. Brushwork, modeling of the body shapes, the composition of the light-dark areas are similar to our painting, even when comparing the infrared photographs. The Man of Sorrows, or Imago pietatis, is a devotional image showing the suffering Christ. It was often used primarily for private devotions, and in the late Middle Ages it was not uncommon as a double portrait with the Sorrowful Virgin Mary.
The (later) inscription on the back "Pietatis caussa..." can be understood as a dedication or donation delivery and with "...de Koseritz..." most likely points to the Saxon area.