Lucas Cranach d. Ä., 1472 Kronach – 1553 Weimar,... Lot n° 179

THE DRAGON SLAYER SAINT GEORG AND THE LIBERATED KING'S DAUGHTER. Oil on wood (slightly curved). 48 x 45.5 cm. We would like to thank the expert on Cranach paintings, Mr. Dieter Koepplin, Basel, for his written comment: "Cranach workshop or Cranach school, charming and original" (15 May 2021). The depiction is based on the legend of St. George by Jacobus da Voragine and his Legenda Aurea, the biographies of the saints. In Cappadocia during the Crusades of the 12th century, St. George was associated with the concept of the dragon slayer. He was said to have freed the virgin daughter of a king from a beast, a dragon. He wounded it, whereupon the rescued woman was able to lead it tamely into the city and the citizens were baptized. In this picture, the individual scenes are shown synchronized, i.e. simultaneously. In the main scene, the princess, kneeling on the ground, thanks the holy knight, who bends down to her and takes her hand. In front of her is a white lamb as a sign of her virginity. The armored man on a white horse, wearing an ostrich feather cap, is accompanied by four other knights in his retinue. The very detailed and characteristically different, almost portrait-like rendering of the faces in fine brushwork is remarkable. The dragon-slaying scene and the princess leading the dragon into the city can be seen on a smaller scale in the scenic background on the right. Among the other paintings of the same subject by Cranach or his pupils, the "Master of the Döbelner High Altarpiece" in the Hamburger Kunsthalle should also be mentioned here, dated around 1520, after Bernhard Blanc 1511-1513. This painting also has a similar composition, with rocks, landscape and the town in the background as well as the white lamb next to the kneeling king's daughter. Our painting is also in the context of the painting by Cranach, Saint Catherine, dated 1515 by Friedländer and Rosenberg, in which the depiction of the horse and the clothing of Saint Catherine are very similar to our depiction. In 1979, Alexander Colin Cole suggested that the figure of the knightly saint depicted Emperor Maximilian I due to the monogram MI (Maximilian Imperator) repeated several times in our painting, for example in the decoration of the horse's harness. He had also chosen St. George as his patron saint. Contemporaries would probably have identified Maximilian as Saint George on the basis of the monogram alone, despite the lack of portrait resemblance and idealized depiction. Regardless of this, Maximilian I was considered a great supporter of the Order of St. George, which had been founded by his father Frederick III in 1464. Emperor Maximilian was a great patron of the arts and had several books illustrated by renowned artists of the time such as Dürer, Burgmayr and Beck, but also by Cranach, whom he knew personally. This is how Theuerdank, an epic that was intended to idealize his bridal journey to Mary of Burgundy with many illustrations, was created. It therefore makes sense to interpret the dragon-slaying legend in our painting as an allegorical representation of the story of Emperor Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. Maximilian supported Mary in asserting herself against Louis XI's claims to her Burgundian inheritance and freed her from political and military distress. The relationship between Maximilian and Maria, who died very young, was the love story of the late Middle Ages and Maximilian is said to have never fully recovered from the death of his beloved wife. All of this could have inspired the artist to create our painting. Provenance: Aristocratic property until 1978. Trafalgar Galleries, London, 1979. Christie's New York, sale 2819, January 29, 2014, lot 161. Sotheby's London, December 8, 2016, lot 117. German private collection. Literature comparisons: Sigrid Braunfels-Esche, St. George: Legend-Worship-Symbol, Munich, Callwey 1976. Claus Grimm, Johannes Erichsen, Evamaria Brockhoff (eds.): Lucas Cranach. A painter-entrepreneur from Franconia. Augsburg 1994. Dieter Koepplin, Tilman Falk: Lukas Cranach. Paintings, Drawings, Prints. Birkhäuser, Basel/Stuttgart 1974. Werner Schade: The Cranach family of painters. Dresden 1974. Werner Schade (ed.): Lucas Cranach. Faith, Mythology and Modernity. Ostfildern 2003. (14020010) (11) Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1472 Kronach - 1553 Weimar, workshop of SAINT GEORGE THE DRAGON SLAYER RESCUES THE KING'S DAUGTHER Oil on panel (slightly warped). 48 x 45.5 cm. We would like to thank the expert on Cranach paintings, Mr Dieter Koepplin, Basel, for his confirmation in writing: "Cranach workshop or School of Cranach, charming and original" (15 May 2021). Provenance: Aristocratic estate, until 1978. Trafalgar Galleries, London, 1979. Christie's New York, sal