Lot 2011 Dα

Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop painted the Saxon Elector Johann Friedrich (1503-1553) numerous times. The present portrait was formerly housed in the Stroganov collection. This depiction type shows the elector in half-length with a pearl-embroidered collar and a fur muff in his hands against a blue background. Three portraits of this type are known and are attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop: the portrait of the elector from Güssing Castle in the Landesgalerie Burgenland, Eisenstadt. The corresponding counterpart shows the elector's wife, Sibylle, Electress of Saxony, and is dated 1535 (see Cranach Digital Archive, ID AT_LGB_128). Two other versions have an almost identical format to the present portrait: the pair of paintings with the elector and electress from Gotha Castle, which is also dated 1535 (Cranach Digital Archive, ID DE_SMG_SG13) and the pair of paintings signed with a snake signet in the Veste Coburg (DE_KSVC_M021), which is dated around 1536.

A recent technological examination of the panel by Prof Gunnar Heydenreich of the CICS, TH Cologne, helped clarify the attribution question. He believes it is possible that the painting was created in the Cranach workshop in Wittenberg. "Special features of the signature and use of materials cannot, however, exclude the possibility that it was created in the surrounding area or at a later date. Some design elements, such as the chain, the hems of the garments and the Elector's ring, show similarities to works by the Master I.S. The Master I.S. also signed portraits with a fluid drawing medium and similar stylistic features in the 1560s." Heydenreich believes it is possible that the painting was part of a series of portraits. This is indicated by the remains of the inscription "JOHANN FRI..." at the top of the picture. He draws a comparison with the portrait series of the master I.S. from around 1560 in the Gotha art cabinet of Ernst the Pious, among others (Cranach Digital Archive DE_KSVC_M024).