(Kronach 1472 – 1553 Weimar) workshop of Portrait of a young woman laughing, oil on panel, 56 x 44 cm, framed

This painting is an exception in the oeuvre of Lucas Cranachs the Elder and that of his workshop both in terms of subject matter and of treatment. It is based on an Italian precedent found among Bergamese paintings dating from the start of the 16th century. A figural group from the School of Bergamo of the 16th century with an identical type of woman was attributed to Bartolomeo Veneto with reference to the influence of Leonardo da Vinci. It was auctioned at Sotheby’s, London on 20 May 1993, lot 12 and again at Christie’s London on 18 April 1997, lot 168. Dr Klaus Grimm considers this painting to be “without a doubt from the Cranach workshop”. Dr Werner Schade and Ludwig Meyer, Archiv für Kunstgeschichte, believe it is in the hand of a painter from Bergamo or Upper Italy. Dr Schade presumes further that this is a fragment due to the outlines of a head in the right-hand half of the image, which became apparent during cleaning. Dr Dieter Koepplin is also of this opinion. Dr Koepplin writes, that they “kept an eye out in the Cranach workshop over several years for Italian precedents” and he mentions that “Cranach’s son, Hans Cranach [died] in Bologna”. He also points out that “the Saxon fashion in women’s clothing at court was influenced by Upper Italian styles”. In favour of an attribution to the Cranach workshop are the wooden chain and the edging on the dress worn by the woman depicted. In any case the present portrait is “art-historically interesting”. The wooden chains which appear in the female portraits produced by Cranach do, indeed, place this portrait within the context of Cranach’s immediate working environment. Literature: The painting is described and illustrated as an autograph work by Lucas Cranach the Elder in Max J. Friedländer & Jakob Rosenberg, “Lucas Cranach”, Monographie und Werksverzeichnis, deutsche Ausgabe Parkland Verlag; Stuttgart, 1989, pp. 128, 293. Certificate: Max J. Friedländer, 19 September 1929: “a highly remarkable work by Lucas Cranach the Elder, based on an Italian precedent” (in photocopy). Provenance: 1932, Edouard Jonas Collection, Paris and New York; Viennese private collection