Studio of Lucas Cranach the Younger

In the collection of the present owner's family for at least two generations.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The panel is of a soft wood. There is a vertical join and a vertical crack to the panel descending through the sitter's head. The lower right hand and left hand corners have been restored. There is worm damage to the reverse of the panel and this has worked its way through to the surface where worm hole damage is significant and restoration has been undertaken to reduce this. Thinned paint to the face and the background has been augmented. Beneath a discoloured, opaque and degraded varnish, covering the black robe, can be seen further restored losses. The writing on the book is abraded and there are restored losses visible. Aside from the damages and restorations there can be seen areas of paint in a well preserved condition. Offered in a burr wood veneered and black painted frame in good condition."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Luther is shown holding the Bible open at the Letter of Paul to the Corinthians II, 10:4-5, presumably his own translation from the Latin Vulgate. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) and Luther were close personal friends and godfathers to each other's children. As court painter in Wittenberg, Cranach was at the very centre of the Protestant Reformation, and became, from around 1520 onwards, the unofficial painter of his friend's portrait. This particular likeness is the last among Cranach's many Luther portrait types. The prototype, signed and dated 1539, is perhaps that recorded by Friedländer and Rosenberg in the collection of Dr. Emile Isambert in Paris.¹ The design was produced many times in the Cranach workshop in the 1540s and 1550s and beyond under the direction of Lucas Cranach the Younger. The portrait of Luther was often paired with a companion portrait of his friend and associate Philip Melanchthon (1497-1522). Good examples, from the hand of the younger Cranach himself, are in the Kisters Collection, Kreuzlingen.²

1. M.J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, London 1978, p. 154, no. 423, reproduced.
2. Exhibited, Basel, Kunstmuseum, Lukas Cranach. Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik, June to September 1974, vol. II., pp. 718-9, nos. 647 and 648.