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Lot Essay
The younger brother of Frederick the Wise (1463-1525), John received a scholarly education and was quickly won over by the writings of the young Martin Luther. After his father’s death in 1486, John assumed control of the Saxon lands of the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty alongside his brother. A man of fearless courage and deep conviction, as his sobriquet attests, on his accession to the Electorate in 1525, John adopted a strongly Lutheran religious policy, becoming the leader of the Evangelical party in the German states. In 1527 the Lutheran Church was established as the state church in Ernestine Saxony, with the Elector as Chief Bishop. John’s religious and political views often led to conflict with the emperor and papacy. He was one of the principal signatories of the Augsburg Confession of 1530 and became a key figure in the formation of the Schmalkaldic League shortly before his death in 1532.
From the beginning of his appointment to the court at Wittenberg, Lucas Cranach the Elder and his studio produced numerous portraits of his three electoral patrons in Wittenberg: Frederick the Wise, John the Steadfast and John's son and successor, John Frederick the Magnanimous (1503-1554). The present portrait is one of two known paintings that depict John the Steadfast with his body turned to the right, the other being the painting of nearly equal width in the Winnipeg Art Gallery, which is signed and dated `1538’ and bears an elaborate inscription recounting the elector’s wish that Ferdinand I, the Archduke of Austria, become the Holy Roman Emperor. More frequently, John appears facing left, as in the 60 portrait pairs that John Frederick ordered of his deceased uncle and father from Cranach and his studio, which were delivered and paid for 1533. The green background is also unusual, but critically, it is also found in the 1509 Diptych portrait of John the Steadfast and his son, John Frederick the Magnanimous (National Gallery, London). In the London portrait, John’s beret is similarly decorated with a twisted string of pearls, which is notably absent in the Winnipeg portrait.
The original context of the present painting remains unknown. Like the Winnipeg portrait, it may have originally included a sheet of paper with an extensive inscription, which at some point was cut away. It might then have been paired with a similar portrait of his brother, Frederick the Wise (though again, the elder brother almost always appeared on the left wing of such a pairing), or his son, John Frederick the Magnanimous. Alternatively, it may have originally been the left wing of a triptych representing all three sitters, as in the paintings in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (after 1532) and the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (around 1533).
We are grateful to Gunnar Heydenreich and Michael Hofbauer, for suggesting on the basis of photographs a dating to around 1526-32 and around 1536, respectively. Our thanks also to Joshua Waterman, for his assistance cataloguing this lot.
From the beginning of his appointment to the court at Wittenberg, Lucas Cranach the Elder and his studio produced numerous portraits of his three electoral patrons in Wittenberg: Frederick the Wise, John the Steadfast and John's son and successor, John Frederick the Magnanimous (1503-1554). The present portrait is one of two known paintings that depict John the Steadfast with his body turned to the right, the other being the painting of nearly equal width in the Winnipeg Art Gallery, which is signed and dated `1538’ and bears an elaborate inscription recounting the elector’s wish that Ferdinand I, the Archduke of Austria, become the Holy Roman Emperor. More frequently, John appears facing left, as in the 60 portrait pairs that John Frederick ordered of his deceased uncle and father from Cranach and his studio, which were delivered and paid for 1533. The green background is also unusual, but critically, it is also found in the 1509 Diptych portrait of John the Steadfast and his son, John Frederick the Magnanimous (National Gallery, London). In the London portrait, John’s beret is similarly decorated with a twisted string of pearls, which is notably absent in the Winnipeg portrait.
The original context of the present painting remains unknown. Like the Winnipeg portrait, it may have originally included a sheet of paper with an extensive inscription, which at some point was cut away. It might then have been paired with a similar portrait of his brother, Frederick the Wise (though again, the elder brother almost always appeared on the left wing of such a pairing), or his son, John Frederick the Magnanimous. Alternatively, it may have originally been the left wing of a triptych representing all three sitters, as in the paintings in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (after 1532) and the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (around 1533).
We are grateful to Gunnar Heydenreich and Michael Hofbauer, for suggesting on the basis of photographs a dating to around 1526-32 and around 1536, respectively. Our thanks also to Joshua Waterman, for his assistance cataloguing this lot.