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Shown from the waist up, a clean-shaven man with pale, peachy skin is dressed in black and burgundy red in this vertical portrait painting. His shoulders are as wide as the composition and his hat nearly touches the top edge, so he almost fills the painting. His body and face are angled to our right, and he looks off in that direction with hooded brown eyes under slightly raised brows. He has a long, bumped nose, high cheekbones, the hint of a five-o-clock shadow, and his pale pink lips are closed. His hair is cut straight across at ear length, and fuzzy sideburns come down to his jawline. A wide, soft black cap curves down either side of his head to ear level. He wears a white shirt with a delicate black pattern on the neckline, which is tied with a thin black ribbon. A voluminous dark red shawl or wrap has two black bands along the bottom hem, and it engulfs his sloping shoulders. In the lower corners of the painting, we see long black sleeves under the wrap. The sleeves have slashes to allow the white undergarment to show through. He is set against a lime-green background and illuminated by bright light from the upper right, which creates a darker green shadow behind him, to our left. The artist signed the painting with a symbol on a small, light brown panel, which appears to be affixed to the back wall in the upper left corner of the painting. The date, “1522,” appears over a winged serpent holding a ring in its mouth.

Lucas Cranach the Elder

Portrait of a Man, 1522

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 35

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

painted surface: 57.6 x 39.9 cm (22 11/16 x 15 11/16 in.)
support: 58.7 x 41 cm (23 1/8 x 16 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1959.9.1

Artists / Makers

Lucas Cranach the Elder (artist) German, 1472 - 1553

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

upper left: 1522; below date, the artist's device, a serpent with upright wings holding a ring in its mouth, facing right

Provenance

Dr. Friedrich Campe [1777-1846], Nuremberg, by 1844.[1] Bernhard von Lindenau [1845-1920], Altenburg; by inheritance to his niece, Mrs. von Watzdorf-Bachoff, Altenburg.[2] (Paul Cassirer, Berlin, by 1921).[3] Private collection, possibly von der Heydt.[4] August and Serena Lederer, Vienna, possibly by 1923, but certainly before 1932;[5] Lederer family; sold by 1954 to (Rosenberg & Stiebel, Inc., New York); purchased January 1954 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1959 to NGA.

[1] The 1995 NGA systematic catalogue entry on the painting stated that it was only possibly owned by Dr. Campe. Although Joseph Heller, Das Leben und die Werke Lucas Cranach's (Bamberg, 1844), 89, lists "Ein männliches und ein weibliches Brustbild, bezeichnet mit 1522 und der Schlange" as belonging to the art and book dealer Dr. Friedrich Campe of Nuremberg, the painting is not mentioned in other descriptions of the collection, such as Ritter C. Heideloff, Verzeichniss der Friedrich Campe'schen Sammlung von Oelgemälden und geschmeltzen Glasmalereien, (Nuremberg, 1847). However, correspondence from Dr. Dieter Gleisberg (letters of 27 July and 1 November 1999, in NGA curatorial files) does confirm Campe's ownership and provides his life dates.

[2] H.-C. v.d. Gabelentz, Director, Staatliche Lindenau Museum, Altenburg, letter of 19 July 1968 to Dr. Ilse Franke, Munich, in curatorial files. As Gabelentz notes in his letter, Bernhard von Lindenau ordered all his papers destroyed after his death, so it is not possible to determine, for example, when he acquired the painting.

[3] Karl Scheffler. "Kunstausstellungen." Kunst und Künstler 19 (1921), 298, cites the painting as being with Cassirer. Gabelentz, letter of 19 July 1968 cited above, says that Mrs. von Watzdorf-Bachoff sold the portrait to Cassirer.

[4] Not verified. Gabelentz, letter of 19 July 1968, cited in note 2, states that the portrait was in the von der Heydt collection, but it has not been possible to locate it in any catalogues associated with the name von der Heydt.

[5] Curt Glaser. Lukas Cranach. (Leipzig, 1923), 179, reproduces the portrait as being in a private collection, Vienna; this is not included in the 1921 edition. Scheffler 1921, 298, reports only that the portrait went from Cassirer into a private collection and so it is possible, although not verified, that Lederer owned it as early as 1921. Max J. Friedländer and Jakob Rosenberg. Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach. (Berlin, 1932), 53-54, nos. 123-124 (Rev. ed. The Paintings of Lucas Cranach. Amsterdam, 1978, 99, nos. 145-146, repro.), are the first to mention Lederer as owner.

This painting was confiscated by the Nazis in 1938 with others in the Lederer collection. It was discovered in the Alt Aussee salt mine after the war and restituted to the Austrian government in 1947. [Receipt for objects of Austrian origin, dated 14 July 1947, item no. 841, National Archives RG 260/USACA/Box 1, copy in NGA curatorial files.] According to a letter dated 10 April 1987 from Gerald G. Stiebel to John Hand, in NGA curatorial files, this and 1959.9.2 were acquired from the Lederer family by the firm of Rosenberg & Stiebel, who sold the paintings to the Kress Foundation in 1954.

[6] Invoice of 29 January 1954 and letter of 30 January 1954 from Saemy Rosenberg to John Walker in NGA curatorial files. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1702.

Associated Names

Campe, Friedrich, Dr.
Galerie Paul Cassirer
Heydt, Eduard von der, Baron
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Lederer, August and Serena
Lindenau, Bernhard von
Stiebel, Ltd.
Watzdorf-Bachoff, von, Mrs.

Exhibition History

1921: Paul Cassirer Gallery, Berlin, 1921.

1994: Lucas Cranach: Ein Maler-Unternehmer aus Franken [Lucas Cranach: Painter-Entrepeneur from Franconia], Festung Rosenberg, Kronach, Germany; Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany, 1994, no. 157, figs. A6 and A7, repro.

2007: Cranach der Ältere, Städel Museum, Frankfurt; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2007-2008, no. 70, repro.

Technical Summary

The painting is composed of two boards with grain running horizontally. Dendrochronological examination by Peter Klein provided dates of 1356-1516 and 1398-1514 for the boards.[1] A barbe is present along all four edges, suggesting that the panel was painted in an engaged frame. The panel has been thinned and an auxiliary support, estimated to be mahogany, was added prior to the addition of the cradle. Examination with infrared reflectography did not disclose underdrawing. The background is built up in layers and consequently is thicker than other areas of the painting. It appears that a brown layer was applied over the ground throughout, visible in the upper left under the artist's serpent device. The background consists of additional green-yellow and green-blue layers as well as a glaze layer to create areas of shadow.

The painting is in very good condition, with only small areas of retouching scattered throughout.

[1] The wood was indentified by Peter Klein, examination report, 10 April 1987, in NGA curatorial files, and by the National Gallery's scientific research department.

Bibliography

1921: Scheffler, Karl. "Kunstausstellungen." Kunst und Künstler 19 (1921): 298, repro. 270.

1923: Glaser, Curt. Lukas Cranach. Leipzig, 1923: 179, 238, fig. 101.

1932: Friedländer, Max J. and Jakob Rosenberg. Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach. Berlin, 1932: 53-54, no. 123, repro. English rev. ed., Amsterdam, 1978: 99, no. 145, repro.

1933: Mayer, August L. "Lukas Cranach D.Ä." Pantheon/Der Cicerone 6, no. 4 (April 1933): 270, 298, repro.

1944: Winkler, Friedrich. Altdeutsche Tafelmalerei. Munich, 1944: 151, repro.

1956: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 56, 58, no. 18, repro. 57.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 310, repro.

1959: Richardson, E. P., ed. "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April-June 1959." The Art Quarterly 22, no. 3 (Autumn 1959): 275, 277, repro.

1960: Broadley Hugh T. German Painting in the National Gallery of Art (Booklet no. 9 in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC). Washington, 1960: 7, 30-31, color repro.

1963: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 305, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 33.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 27, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 86, repro.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 165, no. 184, repro. 164.

1977: Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 23-24, fig. 24.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 165, no. 178, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 105, repro.

1993: Hand, John Oliver, with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1993: 40-44, color repro. 42.

1995: Löcher, Kurt. Review of German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries, by John Oliver Hand with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. Kunstchronik 43 no. 1 (January 1995): 15.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 134-135, no. 101, color repro.

2007: Proske, Mirela. Lucas Cranach the Elder. Translated by Paul Aston. Munich, 2007: 30, color fig. 19.