Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder

Walter Maximilian de Zoete (1845–1934), Layer Breton Lodge, Colchester and Blenheim House, North Berwick;

His posthumous sale, London, Christie's, 5 April 1935, lot 61 (as 'L. Cranach'), for 160 guineas, to Spink;

With Spink, London;

John Harry Clements Ansell (d. 1948), Horley Manor;

Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Christie's, 25 October 1940, lot 63 (as 'Cranach'), for £21, to 'Faciotto';

Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Deceased Estate'), London, Christie's, 12 December 1975, lot 127 (as 'L. Cranach'), for 3,000 guineas;

Anonymous sale, Stuttgart, Auktionshaus Nagel, 9 March 1976, lot 880 (as Lucas Cranach the Elder, erroneously with the provenance of the painting in the Lobkowitz collection, Castle Raudnitz);

Anonymous sale ('Property of a Gentleman'), London, Christie's, 6 July 2017, lot 9 (as workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder);

Where acquired by the present owner.

M. Hofbauer, Corpus Cranach: Lucas Cranach I und Lucas Cranach II, Verzeichnis der Gemälde unter Berücksichtigung von Werkstattumfeld und Epigonen, Heidelberg 2022, p. 198, no. CC-CMM-200-012 (as 'Lucas Cranach the Elder or within his workshop');

The Marriage of St Catherine in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P111/ (as workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder; accessed 03.06.2026).

Common to almost all Lucas Cranach's portrayals of women are their elegant, elongated forms, rich, courtly attire, and the precious accessories with which they are adorned. The present panel, executed in his workshop in circa 1516–20, is no exception. Testament to the skill and precision of the assistants employed in his studio, this painting is a highly-refined, relatively early example of his workshop production.

The scene depicted in this small, devotional panel is an amalgamation of two iconographic traditions, both of which originate from medieval mystical philosophy. The first is the Virgo inter virgines, particularly popular in German and Netherlandish art of the time – the Virgin surrounded by the four most highly venerated female, virgin saints: Catherine, Barbara, Margaret and Dorothy (sometimes excluding this last figure). They are each identifiable here by their attributes: Catherine holds a sword, her spiked wheel beside her; a dragon appears before Margaret on the left; Barbara stands before a tower; and Dorothy is shown holding a small basket of flowers, which had miraculously filled her headdress before she was martyred. The Virgin is positioned at the centre of this courtly group, who gather round her like the ladies-in-waiting of a heavenly entourage. The second is The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine: the most popular of the capital virgins, her legend developed its own visual lexicon. The beautiful and highly intelligent daughter of a king, Catherine would only accept a husband who was her equal, and consequently rejected all her suitors. Learning that Christ was the only man to fulfil her criteria, upon being baptised Catherine had a vision in which He appeared and placed a ring on her finger as a symbol of marriage.

Three paintings of this subject are attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder: the earliest and largest is dated 1516 and is in the Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie, Dessau;¹ a panel of fairly comparable dimensions to the present work is in the Szépmuvészeti Múzeum, Budapest;² and a third, the smallest, was offered in these Rooms in 2018.³ The present panel compares most closely to the Budapest picture and dates to around the same period.

¹ Inv. no. 10; oil on limewood panel, 119.5 x 96.5 cm.; https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_AGGD_10

² Inv. no. 133; oil on limewood panel, 67.9 x 47.4 cm.; https://lucascranach.org/en/HU_SMB_133

³ Oil on limewood panel, 40.7 x 26.5 cm.; https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/old-masters-evening-l18036/lot.7.html