Lot 2010 Dα

Professor Gunnar Heydenreich describes this depiction of Christ as the Man of Sorrows as "a high-quality work by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop", which was created between 1537 and 1540 (certificate dated 18.7.2023). The work, according to Heydenreich, is characterised "by a high painterly quality in essential areas (the hands, face, eyes, crown of thorns...) ". Technical analyses of the materials used have also revealed correspondences to other authentic works by Cranach's workshop, as well as the fact that the picture is painted on a support of the standard format “D”, which was frequently used. With regard to the underdrawing, Professor Heydenreich states that the "composition was freely drawn with a dry medium onto the ground, as can be seen in a similar form in other works by Lucas Cranach the Elder".

In the work, Christ reveals Himself to the viewer with His stigmata and a suffering countenance, sitting on a stone parapet. His body shows the marks of His recent scourging, and His hands hang limply, as He holds a rod and scourge in His left hand so that the stigmata are still visible. The Man of Sorrows as a single figure – without assisting figures or attributes – is the most intense realisation of this pictorial theme in Cranach's oeuvre. Here, the dialogue between the suffering Christ – alive, but with the wounds of the crucifixion – and the viewer is most immediate. The iconography of the Man of Sorrows played a central role in Christian art throughout the Middle Ages and was widespread until the Reformation period – even among Protestants – only losing popularity in the course of the 16th century. The depiction experienced a last great flowering under Lucas Cranach. The artist approached the theme numerous times, for church altarpieces as well as devotional pictures, especially in the time around 1515 and then again in the years after 1537, when this panel is dated.