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a painting of a woman in a red dress holding a knife
ALEXANDRE LANDRE - SEMUR-EN-AUXOIS

16 - From the circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), attr…
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Estimate €4,000 - €6,000
Sale commission
Description
From the circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), attributed to the Master of the I.W. monogram (active in the 16th century) The Suicide of Lucretia Oil on panel. H_30 cm W_20 cm (Signs of wear and restoration). Provenance: - Unidentified old wax seal - Collection of Dr Rudolf Denhardt, attributed to Lucas Cranach, his sale, Lempertz, 29 and 30 November 1909, lot 44, illustrated. - French private collection Related works: - Master of the I. W. monogram, portrait of a dancing newlywed couple, Christie’s London sale, 4 July 2019, lot 18. - Circle of the Master of the I. W. monogram, The Suicide of Lucretia, c. 1530–1540, private collection, Cranach Digital Archive. - Lucas Cranach the Elder, portrait of a woman, Christie’s New York sale of 27 January 2023, lot 205 Our highly interesting panel bears a resemblance to the works of Lucas Cranach the Elder. Indeed, it employs a stylistic vocabulary established by the German painter as early as the beginning of the 16th century. Since the early 20th century, Cranach’s work has been the subject of extensive historical and scientific studies, which now provide a fairly clear understanding of his stylistic evolution and enable us to identify distinct groups within his oeuvre. Cranach was a prolific painter, and his body of work contains evolving groups that are distinct from one another. This painting is linked to the ‘Suicides of Lucretia’ series from the late 1520s. It is also similar to the group presented by Friedländer and Rosenberg under reference numbers FR 171 to FR 178. This group comprises depictions of elegant women in rich German attire set against a dark background, a formula that Cranach developed from the second half of the 1520s onwards. The facial typology, with a rather oval shape, also appears to correspond to this type. It is also important to note that our painting, probably executed freely within the master’s immediate circle, employs his pictorial language whilst blending several of his models. This characteristic attests to the artist’s very thorough knowledge of Cranach’s body of work and, in all likelihood, to direct access to his models, whether painted or drawn. Our painter therefore chose to depict the Suicide of Lucretia by portraying the heroine with the weapon in her right hand, in a somewhat kneeling position, whilst giving her the attire and style of the depictions of elegant contemporary women developed by Cranach. Our painting can be attributed to the Master of the Monogram I. W. Active between 1520 and 1550, this former pupil of Cranach ran a workshop in northern Bohemia. His style, which struggles to break completely free from that of his master, draws on the models he has assimilated with a certain tendency towards Mannerism. The face here is rounder and appears more static than those in Cranach’s works, whilst retaining fine details, particularly around the ear and mouth. The slight transparency acquired by the pigments over time also allows part of the underlying drawing of the face to be discerned. Depictions of Lucretia were particularly common during the Renaissance. She embodies the feminine virtues of chastity, fidelity and honour. According to tradition, Lucretia lived in the 6th century BC. The wife of Tarquinius Collatinus, a prominent figure in the Roman aristocracy related to the royal family, she was renowned for her great beauty and virtue. Coveted by Sextus Tarquinius, son of King Tarquinius Superbus, she was raped by him. After revealing the crime to her husband and her father and making them swear to avenge her, she took her own life. According to tradition, as reported in particular by Livy, this event sparked the uprising against the Tarquins, their expulsion from Rome and the establishment of the Roman Republic. This work is accompanied by a scientific study by the Art inlab laboratory. Expert: Artéon consultancy – Expert: Artéon consultancy
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About the sale Collection of the Château de Villebourgeon & others
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Auction time 10/04/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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