Attributed to Lucas CRANACH the Elder or his workshop (Kronach, 1472 - Weimar, 1553) Salome Oil on panel, parquet (fragment modified in its dimensions) Bears a date '1549' and the artist's insignia with dragon on the right side (Restorations) Salome, oil on panel, attr. to L. Cranach the elder or his workshop 21.25 x 18.70 in. 54.0 x 47.5 cm Provenance: Reached Gotha as part of the dowry of Duchess Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg (1619-1680); Kaufhaus, Gotha, in 1644 (inventory 1644, fol.31) ; In the Kunstkammer, Gotha, from 1656 (inventory 1656, fol. 1, no. 5)[1) ; Galerie Ernst Buck, Mannheim, 1936 (the panel was later cut into two fragments); Pieter de Boer, Amsterdam, 1937; Acquired from the latter in 1972 by the current owner's father (as Lucas Cranach the Younger, Portrait of Sibyl of Saxony); Then by descent; Private collection, Ile-de-France Bibliography: Gustav Parthey, Deutscher Bildersaal. Verzeichnis der in Deutschland vorhandenen Oelbilder verstorbener Maler aller Schulen, Berlin, 1863-1864, p. 699, no. 5 Catalogue of old paintings, Amsterdam, Kunsthandel, Pieter de Boer, spring-summer 1937, no. 5 (as Lucas Cranach the Elder) Gotteswort und Menschenbild. Werke von Cranach und seinen Zeitgenossen, Gotha, Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein, 1994, p. 52 Ernst der Fromme (1601-1675), Bauherr und Sammler. Katalog zum 400. Geburtstag Herzog Ernsts I. von Sachsen-Gotha und Altenburg, Gotha, Gotha Kultur, Allmuth Schuttworf, 2001, no. 1. 19 Joachim W. Jacoby, "Der Monogrammist CR: Cyriakus Reder und Christian Richter", Niederdeutsche Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte, 41, 2002, pp. 197-212. Bild und Botschaft. Cranach im Dienst von Hof und Reformation, Herzogliches Museum; Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, 2015, pp. 278-279, no. 9, pl. p. 279 The story of Salome is told in the Gospels of Mark (6:17-28) and Matthew (14:3-11). Its iconography is widespread in the history of painting. Lucas Cranach the Elder used it on numerous occasions: to depict the expression of the "femme fatale", the provocateur of sin, but also to illustrate the sovereign transgression of Catholic tyranny, two themes that appealed to his Protestant rigourism. Originally, our panel was most likely the upper part of a composition depicting Salome holding the head of Saint John the Baptist, the lower part of which1 is said to be in Friedenstein Castle in Gotha. Aside from the obvious stylistic similarity between the different parts of the dress with its black and red gouged sleeves, there are several elements that support this hypothesis. On the one hand, once the parts had been reassembled, the panel would have been approximately 87 x 57 cm if it had not been cut all the way round, which corresponds to a standard format used by Cranach and his workshop between 1520 and 1535. A comparison of the network of craquelures and a study of the underlying drawing and medium lead to the same conclusions. In 1936, the painting was sold at the Buck Gallery in Mannheim, but was unfortunately split up. The heads of Salome and John the Baptist then had very different fates. Our composition takes on the appearance of a charming portrait (presumed to be that of Sibyl of Saxony), deliberately distanced from the fearsome biblical Salome. While the Gotha panel retains its original black background, that of the piece presented here was clumsily modified between 1936 and 1972, revealing a cracked white undercoat. The flat parquet added to the back of the panel further distances it from its lower counterpart. It is to be hoped that these two fragments of the same story will one day be reunited, so that all the questions raised by their separation can be resolved in the interests of the original Salome and of art history. The work appears in the Cranach digital archive under the reference: PRIVATE_NONE-P280. 1 - Listed in the Cranach digital archive under reference: DE_SMG_SG303 2 - Timo Trümper, Bild und Botschaft. Cranach im Dienst von Hof und Reformation, Heidelberg, 2015, pp. 278-279, no. 99. We would like to thank Prof. Gunnar Heydenreich for his help in attributing this panel by means of a visual examination on 7 October 2024, as well as for his help in drafting this note. Attributed to Lucas CRANACH the Elder or his workshop (Kronach, 1472 - Weimar, 1553) 54.0 x 47.5 cm The story of Salome is told in the Gospels of Mark (6:17-28) and Matthew (14:3-11). Its iconography is widespread in the history of painting. Lucas Cranach the Elder used it on numerous occasions: to depict the expression of the "femme fatale", the provocateur of sin, but also to illustrate the sovereign transgression of Catholic tyranny, two themes that appealed to his Protestant rigourism. Originally, our panel was most likely the upper part of a composition depicting Salome holding the head of Saint John the Baptist, the lower part of which1 is said to be in Friedenstein Castle in Gotha. Aside from the obvious stylistic similarity between the different parts of the dress with its black and red gouged sleeves, there are several elements that support this hypothesis. On the one hand, once the parts had been reassembled, the panel would have been approximately 87 x 57 cm if it had not been cut all the way round, which corresponds to a standard format used by Cranach and his workshop between 1520 and 1535. A comparison of the network of craquelures and a study of the underlying drawing and medium lead to the same conclusions. In 1936, the painting was sold at the Buck Gallery in Mannheim, but was unfortunately split up. The heads of Salome and John the Baptist then had very different fates. Our composition takes on the appearance of a charming portrait (presumed to be that of Sibyl of Saxony), deliberately distanced from the fearsome biblical Salome. While the Gotha panel retains its original black background, that of the piece presented here was clumsily modified between 1936 and 1972, revealing a cracked white undercoat. The flat parquet added to the back of the panel further distances it from its lower counterpart. It is to be hoped that these two fragments of the same story will one day be reunited, so that all the questions raised by their separation can be resolved in the interests of the original Salome and of art history. The work appears in the Cranach digital archive under the reference: PRIVATE_NONE-P280. 1 - Referenced in the Cranach digital archive under reference: DE_SMG_SG303 2 - Timo Trümper, Bild und Botschaft. Cranach im Dienst von Hof und Reformation, Heidelberg, 2015, pp. 278-279, no. 99. We would like to thank Prof. Gunnar Heydenreich for his help in attributing this panel by means of a visual examination on 7 October 2024, as well as for his help in writing this note. Heydenreich attributed the panel to the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder or a successor in a written report dated 21 October 2024 (available on request).