Follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder

Jacques (1854–1937) and Emma Rosenthal (1857–1941), Munich;

With Julius Böhler, Munich, on consignment from the above, from 28 January 1936;

Anonymous sale, Munich, Adolf Weinmüller, 30 November – 2 December 1938, lot 189;

Where acquired by Hans Best (1874–1942), Munich;

By descent to Katja and Monika Trägler, Munich;

By whom restituted to the Rosenthal heirs, October 2025.

E. Rosenthal, Bilder und Globen im Besitz von Jacques Rosenthal, Munich 1914, n. pag. (as school of Lucas Cranach the Elder);

M. Hofbauer, Corpus Cranach: Lucas Cranach I und Lucas Cranach II, Verzeichnis der Gemälde unter Berücksichtigung von Werkstattumfeld und Epigonen, Heidelberg 2022, p. 259, no. CC-MHM-200-092 (as 'not created within the workshop of Cranach the Elder or the Younger');

J.M. Korn, 'Rückkehr verlorener Schätze', in Restauro, August 2025, pp. 26–33, reproduced in colour fig. 1.

Lucas Cranach’s fascination with the story of Lucretia is evident in the considerable number of treatments of the subject that he painted throughout his long career, with over 45 versions attributed to him or his circle. The earliest of these representations are those of 1509–10, such as that sold at Sotheby's, New York, 26 January 2012, lot 34,¹ while the latest signed work is that of 1538, today in the National Museum in Warsaw.² This type of sensual historical painting proved very popular with the artist's private patrons, ironically right in the geographic and ideological heart of the Reformation, in the very court where Cranach’s great friend Martin Luther enjoyed the protection of the Electors of Saxony.

An alternative attribution to Heinrich Vogtherr the Elder has been proposed by Dr Michael Hofbauer, on the basis of similarities with a number of works he has recently attributed to the Monogrammist 'HS', who he believes is Henricus Satrapitanus (Heinrich Vogtherr). These include a painting of the same subject, formerly in the Fürstenberg collection, Donaueschingen Castle, more recently attributed to Heinrich Vogtherr.³ Vogtherr is best known as a printer and engraver, responsible for the dispersion of important Reformation tracts. However, Hofbauer also believes that the stylistic similarity of Vogtherr's works to those of the Cranach workshop presupposes an intimate knowledge of a large number of the works produced there, which can only be explained by direct contact. He suggests that the stylistic features typical of the hand of the master 'HS' allow us to pinpoint a period of roughly between 1512 and 1518, during which Vogtherr must have been working in the Cranach workshop. We are grateful to Dr Michael Hofbauer for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.

¹ Oil on limewood panel, 60.3 x 48.9 cm.; https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/important-old-master-paintings-n08825/lot.34.html

² Oil on oak panel, 58.2 x 40.2 cm.; https://lucascranach.org/en/PL_WPM_Wil1749/

³ Oil on panel, 46 x 28.5 cm.; https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P450/