Beschreibung:

Details
LUCAS CRANACH II (WITTENBERG 1515-1586)
Portrait of Prince Christian I of Saxony (1560-1591), full-length; and Portrait of Princess Marie of Saxony (1562-1566), full-length
signed with the artist's serpent device and dated '1564' (the first: lower left; the second: lower right)
oil on panel
49 1/8 x 24 1/8 in. (125 x 61.5 cm.), each
(2)a pair
Provenance
(Probably) commissioned by Augustus (1526-1586), Elector of Saxony, circa 1564, and hung at the Dresden Court, and by descent in the House of Saxony to,
Christian I (1560-1591), Elector of Saxony (1586-1591), Schloss Moritzburg, and by descent to,
John George I (1585-1656), Elector of Saxony (1611-1656), and by descent to,
John George II (1613-1680), Elector of Saxony (1656-1680), and by descent to,
John George III (1647-1691), Elector of Saxony (1680-1691), and by descent to,
John George IV (1668-1694), Elector of Saxony 1691-1694), and by descent to,
Frederick Augustus (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony (1670-1733) and King of Poland (1697-1733).
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, and by whom gifted in 1924 to,
Prince Ernst Heinrich (1896-1971), Duke of Saxony, Moritzburg (in the 1928 inventory of the Haus Wettin Albertinischer Linie).
Private collection, Switzerland, by 1974.
with Edward Speelman Ltd., London, by 1987, where acquired by the present owner.
Literature
E. Flechsig, Cranachstudien, Leipzig, 1900, p. 288, no. 162.
J.L. Sponsel, Fu¨rsten-Bildnisse aus dem Hause Wettin, Dresden, 1906, p. 42, no. 87, illustrated.
H. Lilienfein, Lukas Cranach und seine Zeit, Bielefeld & Leipzig, 1942, pp. 97 and 102, illustrated in color, pl. 29 (Portrait of Princess Marie).
W. Schade, Die Malerfamilie Cranach, Vienna, 1974, pp. 102 and 391, no. 763.
H. Marx and I. Mössinger, eds., Cranach: mit einem Bestandskatalog der Gemälde in den Staatlichen Kunstammlungen Dresden, exhibition catalogue, Chemnitz, 2005, pp. 516-518, figs. 217 and 218.
Y.C. Croizat, '"Living Dolls": François Ier Dresses His Women', Renaissance Quarterly, LX, 2007, pp. 103-104.
M. Hofbauer, Corpus Cranach: Lucas Cranach I und Lucas Cranach II: Verzeichnis der Gema¨lde unter Beru¨cksichtigung von Werkstattumfeld und Epigonen, Heidelberg, 2022, p. 367, nos. CC-POR-420-014 and CC-POR-420-015, as works that cannot be evaluated due to a lack of information.
Exhibited
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Lucas Cranach d.ä. und Lucas Cranach d.j: Ausstellung im Deutschen Museum Berlin, April-June 1937, no. 147.
Antwerp, DIVA Museum for Diamonds, Jewellery and Silver, Wonderkamer I: Axel Vervoordt 19 October 2018-28 April 2019, no. 88.