Signed with a serpent bottom left. Circa 1537.
Provenance:
• Berlin, Collection of Miss. Basch, 1911;
• collection of Count Einsiedel;
• Berlin, November 1901, lot 98, anonymous sale;
•...
read moreSigned with a serpent bottom left. Circa 1537.
Provenance:
• Berlin, Collection of Miss. Basch, 1911;
• collection of Count Einsiedel;
• Berlin, November 1901, lot 98, anonymous sale;
• Christie's, London, 19th April 1996, lot 239, as 'Lucas Cranach I';
• private collection.
Most probably painted for the court of the Prince of Saxony, this superb portrait of Lucretia uses all the canons particular to the specific style of this great dynasty of artists who marked the history of German painting with its stamp. The model’s indisputable grace and her disarming expression make this a remarkable work with a most troubling power of seduction.
A woman who was the emblem of the birth of the Roman republic, whose adventures are recounted by Titus Livius in the first book of his Roman History, Lucretia inspired numerous 16th century artists to paint superb compositions extolling her virtues and her beauty.
Upon a visit to Rome, Sextus Tarquin fell madly in love with his cousin’s wife, Lucretia. While a guest in his house, Sextus Tarquin did not hesitate to dishonour Lucretia. The incarnation of purity and Roman honour, Lucretia decided to end her days after having made the Roman nobility swear to avenge her by chasing the Tarquins from Rome in order to establish a republic.
Throughout their careers, Cranach the Elder and his son were fascinated by this great myth. Several versions of the drama currently belong to some of the most important private and public collections. Each time, the artist focuses on the exact moment when Lucretia decides to take her life and prepares to give herself the fatal blow. Just like his father, Lucas Cranach the Younger develops this genre, of which our beautiful version is a unique example.
Dated from the 1540s, this version signed with the serpent perfectly illustrates all the painter’s talent: the body of the woman painted by Cranach truly serves the power of the drama, owing to the particular way it twists. In a richly tense movement, Lucretia points the knife at her breast while we see her forcefully seizing her heavy hair in an expression of shame. Dressed in a heavy coat made from thick fur and rich materials, the tragic heroine in the painting is wearing a sumptuous necklace around her neck as well as several gold chains that highlight the whiteness of her breast. Far from hiding anything, the tulle veil covering part of her body simply serves to further highlight the model’s beauty.
Undoubtedly the source of our era’s interest in Cranach’s art, the artist knowingly unites the sensual with the spiritual. He juxtaposes feelings which, at first sight, may seem irreconcilable. However, once painted alongside each other, it is clear they create this moment of ‘magic’ that we expect in this type of painting. This portrait combines all the sensuality of a naked body and the dramatic moment that precedes the irreparable. Lucretia, the symbol of courage and virginal purity, is troubling. Her milky skin and firm curves reveal the artist’s talent, which associates the dignity of a high-ranking woman with innocent nudity.
Other unsigned versions are known to us, such as the one kept at the Austrian museum in Graz. Lucretia sometimes expresses her pain (Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw) and despair (Gemäldegalerie in Kassel), and sometimes impassiveness (Castle of Brandenburg, Berlin), or even throws the viewer – a witness to her act – a meaningful look (Neue Residenz de Bamberg). In our version, Lucretia bids the viewer a final farewell, holding the delicate veil which covers her head, a symbol of shame. With a great mastery of the plastic and formal precepts established by his father, Cranach the Younger depicts a woman full of dignity in this version of Lucretia, an icon of beauty who is the embodiment of purity.
Wittenberg 1515 - Weimar 1586
The Cranachs, a German family of painters, artists and engravers, were active in Saxony during the 16th century. The two sons of Lucas Cranach the Elder, Hans and Lucas the Younger, followed the tradition inherited from their father. Lucas the Younger is mentioned as working in his father's studio at the age of fifteen. He took over in 1550.
Of the two brothers, Lucas the Younger was only one to adopt a more personal style. He distinguished himself through his expressive and highly meticulous portraits, showing a great independence in his choice of colours. A skilled painter and engraver, he was noticed by the prince-elector of Dresden, Augustus of Saxony, and appointed his painter in 1553. From 1565 to 1568, he became the burgomaster of Wittenberg, like his father.
An accomplished portrait painter, he developed a particularly decorative stylised and two-dimensional way of painting portraits. His mythological scenes and his paintings of manners were particularly popular.
