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Lot Essay
The present painting is one of several treatments of this subject that are known by Lucas Cranach the Elder, his workshop, and Lucas Cranach the Younger (see D. Koepplin and T. Falk, in the catalogue of the exhibition, Lukas Cranach. Gemälde- Zeichnungen-Druckgraphik, Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland, 15 June - 8 September 1974, I, p. 660 ff., nos. 576 - 91).
Dr. Werner Schade (private communication, 9 October 2002) believes that the present painting is an excellent 'hervorragendes' work by Lucas Cranach the Younger, datable to relatively late in the artist's career, probably after 1540. He compares it to another signed work by the artist in Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (69 x 50cm.). Dr. Dieter Koepplin also believes that the present painting is by Lucas Cranach the Younger, having previously believed that it could be by either the elder or younger Cranach. In his 1974 exhibition catalogue he describes another Lucretia in the Kunstmuseum, Basel as by either Lucas Cranach the Elder or the Younger (ibid., p.666, no.583).
Mr. Ludwig Mayer, however, (private communication, 30 September 2002) favors an attribution to Lucas Cranach the Elder for the present lot, and dates it to circa 1526-29. He notes two other versions of the composition by Cranach the Elder, both of which he believes to be of inferior quality to the present painting; one offered at Christie's, London, 9 December 1994, lot 84 and the other with Hoogendijk, Amsterdam in 1929 (see M.J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, London and New York, 1978, p. 117, no. 240H).
Dr. Werner Schade (private communication, 9 October 2002) believes that the present painting is an excellent 'hervorragendes' work by Lucas Cranach the Younger, datable to relatively late in the artist's career, probably after 1540. He compares it to another signed work by the artist in Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (69 x 50cm.). Dr. Dieter Koepplin also believes that the present painting is by Lucas Cranach the Younger, having previously believed that it could be by either the elder or younger Cranach. In his 1974 exhibition catalogue he describes another Lucretia in the Kunstmuseum, Basel as by either Lucas Cranach the Elder or the Younger (ibid., p.666, no.583).
Mr. Ludwig Mayer, however, (private communication, 30 September 2002) favors an attribution to Lucas Cranach the Elder for the present lot, and dates it to circa 1526-29. He notes two other versions of the composition by Cranach the Elder, both of which he believes to be of inferior quality to the present painting; one offered at Christie's, London, 9 December 1994, lot 84 and the other with Hoogendijk, Amsterdam in 1929 (see M.J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, London and New York, 1978, p. 117, no. 240H).