Forgotten portraits of the Dukes of Pomerania, Dukes of Silesia and European monarchs - part I

3/16/2022

Support the project

Portraits of George I of Brzeg and Anna of Pomerania by Hans Suess von Kulmbach

On June 9, 1516 in Szczecin, Duke George I of Brzeg (1481-1521) married Anna of Pomerania (1492-1550), the eldest daughter of Duke Boguslaus X of Pomerania (1454-1523) and his second wife Anna Jagiellon (1476-1503), daughter of King Casimir IV of Poland.

According to Brzeg city book (fol. 24 v.) their engagement took place as early as 1515. In June 1515, George imposed a two-year tax on the inhabitants of his Duchy in order to collect dowry sums of 10,000 guilder (after "Piastowie: leksykon biograficzny", p. 507), the sum the princess also received from her father. In the years 1512-1514 there were negotiations regarding Anna's marriage with the Danish king Christian II. This marriage was prevented by the Hohenzollerns, leading to his marriage to Isabella of Austria, sister of Emperor Charles V.

George, the youngest son of Duke Frederick I, Duke of Chojnów-Oława-Legnica-Brzeg-Lubin, by his wife Ludmila, daughter of George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia, was the true prince of the Renaissance, a great patron of culture and art. Often staying at the court in Vienna and Prague, he got used to splendor, so that in 1511, during the stay of the Bohemian-Hungarian royal family in Wrocław, all courtiers were eclipsed by the splendor of his retinue. In February 1512 he was in Kraków at the wedding of King Sigismund I with Barbara Zapolya, arriving with 70 horses, then in 1515 at the wedding of his brother with the Polish-Lithuanian princess Elizabeth Jagiellon (1482-1517) in Legnica, and in 1518 again in Kraków at the wedding of Sigismund with Bona Sforza. He imitated the customs of the Jagiellonian courts in Kraków and Buda, had numerous courtiers, held feasts and games at his castle in Brzeg (after "Brzeg" by Mieczysław Zlat, p. 21). He died in 1521 at the age of 39.

George and Anna had no children and according to her husband's last will, she received the Duchy of Lubin as a dower with the lifelong rights to independent rule. Anna's rule in Lubin lasted twenty-nine years, and after her death it fell to the Duchy of Legnica.

The major painter at that time at the royal court in Kraków was Hans Suess von Kulmbach. His work is documented between 1509-1511 and 1514-1515, working for the king Sigismund I (his portrait in Gołuchów, Pławno triptych, a wing from a retable with effigy of a king, identified as portrait of Jogaila/Ladislaus Jagiello, in Sandomierz, among others), his banker Jan Boner (altar of Saint Catherine) and his nephew Casimir, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach from 1515 (his portrait dated '1511' in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich). Hans, born in Kulmbach, was a student of the Venetian painter Jacopo de' Barbari (van Venedig geporn, according to Dürer) and then went to Nuremberg, where he became close friends with Albrecht Dürer as his assistant.

The portrait of a man by Kulmbach in private collection (auctioned at Sotheby's, London in 1959) bear inscription · I · A · 33 (abbreviation for Ihres Alters 33 in German, his age 33, in upper left corner), monogram of the painter HK (joined) and above the year 1514 (in upper right corner). The man was the same age as Duke George I of Brzeg, born according to sources between 1481 and 1483 (after "Piastowie: leksykon biograficzny", p. 506), when Kulmbach moved to Kraków. This portrait has its counterpart in another painting of the same format and dimensions (41 x 31 cm / 40 x 30 cm), portrait of a young woman in Dublin (National Gallery of Ireland, inventory number NGI.371, purchased at Christie's, London, 2 July 1892, lot 15). Both portraits were painted on limewood panels, they have a similar, matching composition and similar inscription. According to the inscription on the portrait of a woman, she was 24 in 1515 (· I · A · 24 / 1515 / HK), exaclty as Anna of Pomerania, born at the end of 1491 or in the first half of 1492 (after "Rodowód książąt pomorskich" by Edward Rymar, p. 428), when she was engaged to George I of Brzeg. The woman bear a strong resemblance to effigies of Anna of Pomerania by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, identified by me. Her costume is very similar to that visible in the painting depicting Self-burial of St. John the Evangelist (St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków), created by Kulmbach in 1516, possibly showing the interior of the Wawel Cathedral with original gothic, silver sarcophagus of Saint Stanislaus. The female figures in the latter painting could be Queen Barbara Zapolya (d. 1515) and her ladies or wife of Jan Boner, Szczęsna Morsztynówna and other Kraków ladies.

Despite different dates, the two portraits are also considered as a possible pair in the exhibition catalog "Meister um Albrecht Dürer" at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg in 1961, according to which "the figures probably represent people from Kraków, because Kulmbach worked there in 1514/15 on the altar of St. Catherine of the St. Mary's Church" (Dargestellt dürften Krakauer Persönlichkeiten sein, da Kulmbach dort 1514/15 am Katharinenaltar für die Marienkirche arbeitete, compare "Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums", items 166-167, p. 107).

The portraits are also compared to two similar paintings depicting a woman and her husband, which were before 1913 in the collection of Marczell Nemes (1866-1930) in Budapest, sold in Paris, and earlier in the Weber collection in Hamburg (after "Collection Marczell de Nemes", Galerie Manzi-Joyant, items 26-27). Both paintings were probably destroyed during the First or Second World War. The portrait of a woman (panel, 58.5 x 44), wearing expensive jewelry indicating her wealth, was signed with the artist's monogram and dated: J. A. Z. 4. / 1.5.1.3. HK, which means that the woman was 24 years old in 1513. The portrait of a man (panel, 58 x 43.5) was also signed with the artist's monogram and dated: J. A. Z. 7. / 1.5.1.3. HK, indicating that the model was 27 years old in 1513.

The age of a man in 1513 perfectly matches Seweryn Boner (1486-1549), a wealthy banker to King Sigismund I, whose family moved from Nuremberg to Kraków in 1512 and who throughout his life maintained active contact with this German city. Boner's year of birth - 1486, is confirmed on his bronze funerary sculpture in St. Mary's Church in Kraków, created between 1532 and 1538 by Hans Vischer in Nuremberg. According to a Latin inscription, he died in 1549 at the age of 63 (SANDECEN(SIS) ANNV(M) ÆTATIS SVÆ SEXAGESIMV(M) · TERCIV(M) AGE(N)S DIE XII MAY A[NNO] 1549).

Seweryn married the daughter of Severin Bethman of Wissembourg (d. 1515) and his wife Dorothea Kletner - Sophia Bethman (d. 1532), also Zofia Bethmanówna (MAGNIFICÆ DOMINÆ ZOPHIÆ BETHMANOWNIE. QVÆ. DIE V MAII AN[NO] MDXXXII OBIIT), according to the inscription on her funerary sculpture, or Sophie Bethmann in German sources, born around 1490, her age therefore also corresponds to that of a woman in the Kulmbach's portrait (around 1489). Zofia was a heiress of Balice and her wealth helped build Boner's successful career. The effigies of a woman and a man also recall Seweryn and Zofia from their funerary sculptures.

Although Kulmbach apparently returned to Nuremberg in 1513, that year he painted a votive panel for Provost Lorenz Tucher to Saint Sebaldus in Nuremberg, considered his most important work (signed right in middle panel: HK 1513), the direct meeting with Seweryn Boner around that year is not excluded (whether in Nuremberg or Kraków).

The man's costume in the 1513 portrait is typical for Kraków fashion of that era and similar ones can be seen in Hans von Kulmbach's 1511 Adoration of the Magi, the central panel of a triptych founded by Stanisław Jarocki, castellan of Zawichost (d. 1515) for Skałka Monastery in Kraków (Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, inv. 596A). It also greatly resembles the outfit of King Sigismund from his portrait attributed to Kulmbach at Gołuchów Castle (oil on panel, 24 x 18 cm, Mo 2185) or from his portrait, most likely made by Kulmbach, which was at the beginning of the 20th century in the antique shop of Franciszek Studziński in Paris. Regarding the effigy of the king in Gołuchów, it should also be noted that although it is undoubtedly a version of the same prototype, most likely made by Kulmbach, which was also copied by Cristofano dell'Altissimo in a painting in the Uffizi Gallery (inv. 1890, n. 412), the style of the painting more closely resembles to the works of Flemish painters of the 17th century. The most striking element of the two mentioned portraits of Sigismund I is the way in which the nose was depicted and perfectly illustrates how the practice of copying effigies changed facial features.

According to Mieczysław Morka ("Sztuka dworu Zygmunta I Starego ...", p. 450, 452), it is probably King Sigismund I who shakes the hand of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Adoration of the Magi from Skałka, however, the golden crinale cap and green cloak of a man are very similar to the portrait of a man from 1513.

The woman's costume, with its characteristic bulbous coif, called Wulsthaube, also finds equivalents in Kraków fashion in the Miracle at the tomb of the Patriarch from the polyptych of John the Merciful, painted by Jan Goraj around 1504 (National Museum in Kraków, MNK ND-13), founded by Mikołaj of Brzezie Lanckoroński for the Church of St. Catherine in Kraków. A similar dress can be seen in the miniature portrait of Agnieszka Ciołkowa née Zasańska (d. 1518) as Saint Agnes in the Kraków Pontifical by the Master of the Bright Mountain Missal from 1506 to 1518 (Czartoryski Library, 1212 V Rkps, p. 37).

Aa a wealthy merchant and banker, sometimes compared to Jakob Fugger the Rich (1459-1525), Seweryn Boner was a great patron of the arts. His family, especially his uncle Jan or Johann (Hans) Boner (1462-1523), were also known for their splendid patronage. In addition to Kulmbach paintings, Hans bought luxury items in Venice. The beautiful Renaissance tombstone of Seweryn's father-in-law, Severin Bethman, in the presbytery of St. Mary's Church in Kraków, carved from red marble, is most likely the work of Giovanni Cini.

The only thing preventing us from fully recognizing the 1513 portraits as effigies of Zofia and her husband is the date of the paintings. According to sources, she married Seweryn on October 23, 1515, so two years later. A few days after the wedding, her father died (October 28). Nevertheless, this does not completely rule out identification as Zofia Bethmanówna and Seweryn Boner. The exact source confirming the date of their marriage is not specified, so it could be incorrect. The date of their engagement is also not known. Although, according to traditional iconography, the portraits represent a married couple (pendant portraits, woman's hair covered), as in the case of the portraits made in 1514 and 1515, described above, the interpretation that they were made not as confirmation but as anticipation of a successful marriage is also possible.

Portrait of a woman aged 24, probably Zofia Bethmanówna (d. 1532) by Hans Suess von Kulmbach, 1513, Private collection, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of a man aged 27, probably Seweryn Boner (1486-1549) by Hans Suess von Kulmbach, 1513, Private collection, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of George I of Brzeg (1481-1521), aged 33 by Hans Suess von Kulmbach, 1514, Private collection.

Portrait of Anna of Pomerania (1492-1550), aged 24 by Hans Suess von Kulmbach, 1515, National Gallery of Ireland.

Portrait of Sigismund I (1467-1548) by Hans Suess von Kulmbach (?), after 1514, Private collection, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Sigismund I (1467-1548) by Flemish painter after Hans Suess von Kulmbach (?), first quarter of the 17th century, Gołuchów Castle.

Silesian Cranachiana

The great popularity of Cranach's works, as in Poland-Lithuania and Bohemia, had a considerable impact on art in Silesia, as evidenced by numerous paintings of the Silesian school from the early 16th century, exhibited in the National Museum and the Archdiocesan Museum in Wrocław. Although it is possible that some of these anonymous painters, working mainly in Wrocław, were trained in Cranach's workshop in Wittenberg, it is more likely that they were inspired by the style of the works imported to Silesia, since their own style prevailed. Among the best examples are The Raising of Lazarus, a panel from the epitaph of Balthazar Bregel (d. 1521) from St. Elizabeth's Church in Wrocław, painted in 1522, and Christ's Farewell to Mary from the epitaph of Hans Starzedel, painted in 1528 (National Museum in Wrocław), as well as the Holy Family from the 1520s (Archdiocesan Museum in Wrocław), which shows strong influences from Cranach's style. Among the oldest are also The Deposition with a donor from the Cathedral of St. Vincent and St. James in Wrocław, inspired by Cranach's woodcut from The Passion, created around 1509 (National Museum, inv. MNWr VIII-2663) and The Man of Sorrows with the Virgin and St. John with a donor (Archdiocesan Museum), borrowing the composition from a painting by Cranach from around 1525, today in the Stadtmuseum in Baden-Baden.

This practice, together with the many works by Cranach and his workshop that have survived despite the turbulent history of Silesia, prove that this importation and the contacts with the Wittenberg workshop were significant from the beginning of the German master's popularity in Central Europe. Cranach's connections with the German reformers Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon and his, so to speak, monopoly on their likenesses also had a great influence on his popularity in Silesia. Several of these works have a confirmed provenance, sometimes from the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century, but it can be assumed that they were imported shortly after their creation.

Individual patrons from Silesia, inspired by Cranach's innovative style and his popularity among the aristocracy and officials of the Jagiellonian elective monarchies, also commissioned works of art from Wittenberg. One of the earliest and most beautiful paintings is Cranach the Elder's Christ as a Man of Sorrows (Vir Dolorum), probably painted between 1515 and 1520 (panel, 27.6 x 17.8 cm, Christie's London, Auction 6068, December 16, 1998, lot 41, dated "1530" and artist's insignia in the centre right, not genuine). The painting bears the coat of arms of the Henckel von Donnersmarck in the lower left corner, a noble family from the former Spiš region of Upper Hungary (now Slovakia). The original seat of the family was in Spišský Štvrtok in Slovakia, known as Donnersmarck in German. This painting was most probably commissioned by Johannes Henckel von Donnersmarck (1481-1539), a scholar who corresponded with Luther, Melanchthon, and Erasmus of Rotterdam. He began his career as a pastor in Levoča and Košice. Later, he stayed at the court of Louis II Jagiellon (1506-1526), King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, and his wife, Maria of Austria (1505-1558), as court chaplain. In 1531, he came to Silesia and became a canon in Wrocław. He died there eight years later and was buried in the local cathedral. Another beatiful painting by Cranach and workshop showing the Man of Sorrows, connected with Wrocław and painted in about 1545 (National Museum in Poznań, inv. Mo 472), comes from the collection a Silesian humanist and book collector Thomas Rehdiger (also Rhediger and Redinger, 1540-1576), who studied in Wittenberg and from where he most likely brought the painting by Cranach.

One of the oldest and most beautiful works by Cranach related to Silesia is the painting The Virgin on the Crescent which was in the monastery of St. Magdalene in Lubań near Legnica before the Second World War (panel, 119 x 76 cm). The painting was probably destroyed between February and May 1945, when the monastery became the scene of fierce fighting between the enemy powers. It was considered one of the artist's earliest works and belonged to the last Cistercian of Neuzelle, Father Vincenz, who came to Lubań and died around 1883, bequeathing the painting to the monastery. It is likely that it belonged to the Neuzelle Abbey (Monasterium Nova Cella) until its secularization in 1817. Neuzelle was founded in the 13th century by the House of Wettin, but from 1367, together with Lower Lusatia, it was part of the Kingdom of Bohemia. During the Reformation, the majority of monks came mainly from North Bohemia and Catholic Upper Lusatia and studied at Charles University in Prague after the novitiate. The monastery was incorporated into the Bohemian Province of the Cistercian Order. When the Habsburgs ceded Lower Lusatia to the Saxon House of Wettin in the Peace of Prague in 1635, the Protestant Elector of Saxony had to guarantee the continued existence of the Neuzelle Abbey.

The Lubań painting was signed with Cranach's mark, the serpent with wings pointing outwards, located at the lower end of the crescent moon. It resembled a similar composition attributed to Cranach's student Simon Franck bearing the arms of Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545), which was probably in the collegiate church of Halle until 1541, today in the Staatsgalerie in Aschaffenburg (inv. 6276), as well as the Madonna of the Saxon Chancellor Hieronymus Rudelauf (d. 1523), today in the Städel Museum (inv. 1731), both considered to have been painted in the early 1520s. The face of the Madonna, however, is very reminiscent of The Virgin and Child with a Bunch of Grapes, today in the Franconian Gallery in Kronach (deposit of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, inv. 1023). The Madonna in the Franconian Gallery is believed to have been created around 1525 and before 1824 it belonged to Maximilian I Joseph (1756-1825), King of Bavaria.

The Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child, a work by Cranach's circle, probably by Simon Franck and made around 1530, comes from the church in Grodziec (Gröditzberg), where the castle of the Dukes of Legnica is located. It was acquired by the National Museum in Wrocław in 1963 (inv. MNWr VIII-1452).

One of the most beautiful portraits of Martin Luther, painted by the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder around 1540, is in Wrocław (National Museum, panel, 34.7 x 30.5 cm, inv. MNWr VIII-2987). Marked lower right with the artist's insignia, this portrait is a central panel of the epitaph of Hanns Ebenn von Brunnen from the Church of St. Elizabeth in Wrocław, created around 1620. It is one of several portraits of Luther made by Cranach and his workshop, linked to Wrocław - others are in Weimar (Schlossmuseum, inv. G 559, dated 1528, companion to the portrait of Katharina von Bora, inv. G 560, both purchased in Wrocław in 1908), Berlin (Gemäldegalerie, inv. Dep26, companion to the portrait of Melanchthon, dated 1532, inv. Dep27, both from the Church of St. Elizabeth in Wrocław) and Warsaw, painted by the workshop of Cranach the Younger in 1564 (National Museum, inv. M.Ob.1757, companion to the portrait of Melanchthon, inv. M.Ob.1761, both from the Church of St. Elizabeth in Wrocław, deposited in the Wrocław City Museum). Two pairs of portraits of Luther and Melanchthon, made by Cranach's workshop and follower, now kept in the National Museum in Kraków, probably also come from Silesia (inv. MNK XII-A-553, MNK XII-A-554, MNK XII-A-138, MNK XII-A-139).

Double portrait with Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon in half-figures facing each other, attributed to Cranach the Younger or his workshop (unsigned), now in a private collection (panel, 36.8 x 56.5 cm, sold at auction in London in 1955), was in the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław before World War II and is listed in the Polish Catalog of Wartime Losses (number 63410).

Another magnificent portrait by circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder, from the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts, was also lost during the Second World War (panel, 51 x 38 cm, inv. 628, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 10471). It may have been painted by the Master of the Mass of St. Gregory, who takes his name from the many depictions of this subject, all painted for Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg, and shows a man wearing a fur coat and hat. According to the German inscription in the upper left corner, the man was 46 years old in 1527 ([…] ICH WAR 46 IAR ALT ∙ […] ICH DY GE= / STALT ∙ 1527 ∙) and the inscription in the upper right corner confirms that he died on August 5, 1541 (IST GESTHORBEN / AM ∙ 5 ∙ DAGE AVGVS / IM JAR ∙ 1 ∙ 5 ∙ 41 ∙). It is possible that this man was a fur merchant from Wrocław who traded with Kraków.

Interestingly, two other 16th-century portraits from the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts, lost during World War II, are also close to Cranach. One of them was painted in 1548 and depicts Peter Haunold (1522-1585) at the age of 26, according to the inscription in the upper left corner (PETRVS ∙ HAVNOLT. / Æ ∙ 26 ∙ ANNO ∙ 48, oil on panel, 27 x 18 cm, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 63411). Peter came from Rościsławice (Riemberg), north of Wrocław, and became a citizen of Wrocław in 1548. He was a merchant and later became Lord of Rościsławice. He had particularly strong trade relations with Hungary and was appointed chamber secretary to Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559), Queen of Hungary in 1554. He married Ursula Lindner in 1547 and Martha von Holtz in 1553 and had eight daughters and two sons (after "Der Rat und die Ratsgeschlechter des alten Breslau" by Rudolf Stein, p. 238). In 1564 he owned a house in Wrocław.

The other shows a German musician, theologian and Protestant reformer, Nikolaus Selnecker (or Selneccer, 1530-1592), holding right hand on open book (oil on panel, 42 x 31 cm, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 63412). Selnecker studied in Wittenberg in 1550 and was a friend of Melanchthon. From 1559 he was chaplain and musician at the court of Augustus, Elector of Saxony in Dresden. At the turn of the years 1573/74 he was a professor in Leipzig and in 1576 he also became pastor of the St. Thomas Church, as well as canon of Meissen Cathedral and it was most likely at this time that an engraving with his portrait holding a book was made by Hieronymus Nützel (Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, inv. RP-P-1914-628). Selnecker's portrait from Wrocław was similar and its style was close to works by Cranach the Younger or his workshop, such as the portrait of the Saxon lawyer Leonhard Badehorn (Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, inv. 614). It has been dated to around 1592, so a few years after the painter's death (1586), based on a Latin inscription in the upper part, which was probably added later and was incorrect because it stated his age was 63, while he died at almost 62 (ANNO ÆTATIS, LXIII / NICOLAVS SELNECCERVS.D.).

Some old documents also confirm the existence of Cranach's works in Silesia. Two paintings "Judith with Holofernes" (Judith cum Holoferne) and "Christ among the Children" (Christus inter gregem puerulorum), probably by Cranach or his workshop, were in the Hatzfeld Palace in Wrocław and were destroyed in the fire of 1760. The Catalogue of the Picture Gallery of the House of the Silesian States in Wrocław from 1863 mentions "A Judith with the Head of Holofernes by Kranach (?)" (Eine Judith mit dem Kopf des Holofernes von Kranach (?), item 135), a gift from the auctioneer (Auctions-Commissarius) Pfeiffer around 1820, and "Portrait of Dr. Martin Luther with the Kranach monogram. 1533" (Bildniss des Dr. Martin Luther mit dem Monogramm Kranachs. 1533, item 136) from the former Saint Matthias Gymnasium (Matthiasstift), today Ossolineum in Wrocław, both painted on wood (after "Katalog der Bilder-Galerie im Ständehause zu Breslau", p. 19, 25, 36). It also mentions the Holy Family on copper, possibly by Cranach the Elder (item 316), from the collection of Albrecht von Säbisch (1685-1748), a portrait of Luther from 1529 by the school of Cranach (item 615), a portrait of Elector Augustus (1526-1586) and a mentioned portrait of Haunold from 1548, both from the school of Cranach (items 619, 620), followed by Judith with the Head of Holofernes (item 623) and Cranach's Head of Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony (item 626), all listed as coming from the collection of Thomas Rehdiger. In the collection of the von Falkenhausen family in their palace in Wolany (Wallisfurth) near Kłodzko, in 1899, there was the Venus with green-winged Cupid, signed with Cranach's mark in the right corner (48 x 34 cm) and the painting of the sleeping nymph (46 x 37 cm). The family also owned Cranach's The Judgement of Paris, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. 28.221, after "Neue Cranachs in Schlesien" by Richard Förster, p. 265-266, 273-274).

Christ as a Man of Sorrows with coat of arms of Johannes Henckel von Donnersmarck (1481-1539), court chaplain of King Louis II Jagiellon (1506-1526), by Lucas Cranach the Elder or workshop, ca. 1515-1520, Private collection.

The Virgin on the Crescent by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1520-1525, Monastery of St. Magdalene in Lubań, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Martin Luther (1483-1546) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1540, National Museum in Wrocław.

Double portrait of Martin Luther (1483-1546) and Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560) from Wrocław by Lucas Cranach the Younger or workshop, ca. 1558-1570, Private collection.

Portrait of a 46-year-old man by circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1527, Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of merchant Peter Haunold (1522-1585), aged 26, secretary to Isabella Jagiellon (1519-1559), Queen of Hungary in 1554, by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1548, Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of musician and theologian Nikolaus Selnecker (1530-1592) by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger, ca. 1576, Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portraits of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino by Venetian painters

"As to Florence, 1513 also saw another Medici, Lorenzo de' Medici (the grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent), return to power as a 'leading citizen,' a development felicitous to some, odious to others. He too pursued the Medici drive toward expansion, desiring, and with the help of his uncle the pope, achieving the title of duke of Urbino in 1516. It was to him, in fact, that Machiavelli wound up dedicating The Prince, in the hope, vain in retrospect, that Lorenzo might become the sought-after redeemer of Italy for whom The Prince's final lines cry out so urgently. As duke of Urbino he married a daughter of the count of Auvergne, with whom he had a daughter, Catherine de' Medici, who would later become queen of France" (after "Machiavelli: A Portrait" by Christopher Celenza, p. 161).

Lorenzo, born in Florence on 12 September 1492, received the name of his eminent paternal grandfather Lorenzo the Magnificent. Just as for his grandfather, Lorenzo's emblem was the laurel tree, because of the play on the words laurus (laurel) and Laurentius (Lorenzo, Lawrence).

A bronze medal cast by Antonio Francesco Selvi (1679-1753) in the 1740s, believed to be inspired by the medal created by Francesco da Sangallo (1494-1576), depict the duke in profile with inscription in Latin LAVRENTIVS. MEDICES. VRBINI.DVX.CP. on obverse and a laurel tree with a lion, generally regarded as symbol of strength, on either side with the motto that says: .ITA. ET VIRTVS. (Thus also is virtue), to signify that virtue like laurel is always green. Another medal by Sangallo in the British Museum (inventory number G3,TuscM.9) also shows laurel wreath around field on reverse.

The so-called "Portrait of a poet" by Palma Vecchio in the National Gallery in London, purchased in 1860 from Edmond Beaucousin in Paris, is generally dated to about 1516 basing on costume (oil on canvas, transferred from wood, 83.8 x 63.5 cm, NG636). The laurel tree behind the man have the same symbolic meaning as laurel on the duke of Urbino's medals and his face resemble greatly effigies of Lorenzo de' Medici by Raphael and his workshop.

The same man was also depicted in a series of paintings by Venetian painters showing Christ as the Redeemer of the World (Salvator Mundi). One attributed to Palma Vecchio is on display in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Strasbourg (oil on panel, 74 x 63 cm, MBA 585), the other in the National Museum in Wrocław (oil on canvas, 78.5 x 67.7, VIII-1648, purchased in 1966 from Zofia Filipiak), possibly from the Polish royal collection, was painted more in the style of Giovanni Cariani or Bernardino Licinio, and another in the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston (oil on canvas, 76.8 x 65 cm, 10-011) is attributed to Girolamo da Santacroce from Bergamo, a pupil of Gentile Bellini, active mainly in Venice.

This practice of disguised portraits, dressed as Christian saints or members of the Holy Family, was popular among the Medici family since at least the mid-15th century. The best example is a painting commissioned in Flanders - the Medici Madonna with portraits of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (1416-1469) and his brother Giovanni (1421-1463) as Saints Cosmas and Damian, painted by Rogier van der Weyden between 1460 and 1464 when the artist was working in Brussels (Städel Museum, 850).

As in "The Prince" by Machiavelli, the message is clear, "more than just a prince, Lorenzo can become a 'redeemer' who drives out of Italy the 'barbarian domination [that] stinks to everyone'" (after "Apocalypse without God: Apocalyptic Thought, Ideal Politics, and the Limits of Utopian Hope" by Ben Jones, p.64).

Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici (1492-1519), Duke of Urbino by Palma Vecchio, ca. 1516, National Gallery in London.

Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici (1492-1519), Duke of Urbino as the Redeemer of the World (Salvator Mundi) by Palma Vecchio, ca. 1516, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg.

Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici (1492-1519), Duke of Urbino as the Redeemer of the World (Salvator Mundi) by Giovanni Cariani or Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1516, National Museum in Wrocław.

Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici (1492-1519), Duke of Urbino as the Redeemer of the World (Salvator Mundi) by Girolamo da Santacroce, ca. 1516, Agnes Etherington Art Centre.

Crucifixion with saints and disguised portrait of Margaret of Ziębice, Princess of Anhalt by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop

Around 1757, Christoph Friedrich Reinhold Lisiewski (1725-1794), also Lisiewsky and often mistakenly called Christian Friedrich Reinhold, a German painter of Polish origin, painted a portrait of Margaret of Ziębice (1473-1530), Princess of Anhalt, known as Margarethe von Münsterberg in German. Anna Dorothea Lisiewska's brother, then court painter to the Princes of Anhalt-Dessau (between 1752 and 1772), depicted the princess kneeling before the picture in a decorative Baroque frame. The portrait, now housed at Mosigkau Castle near Dessau (inv. MOS-10), comes from the collection of the Princes of Anhalt-Dessau, and a German inscription in the lower part confirms the identity of the sitter (Margaretha Fürstin zu Anhalt, Gebohrne Prinzeß zu Münsterberg: Ist gebohren 1473, / vermählt 1494, verstorben 1530 und von dieser Fürstin Margaretha kommen alle jetzige Fürsten von Anhalt her Dessau-Roßlau). What is most interesting is that the figure of Margaret is a copy of Saint Mary Magdalene from a Crucifixion scene painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop around 1523, now in St. John's Church in Dessau (panel, 220 x 118.5 cm). Cranach's original painting, depicting Christ on the cross, flanked by St. John the Baptist, the Virgin Mary, St. John the Evangelist, St. Francis, and St. Mary Magdalene kneeling at the foot of the cross and looking at Christ, comes from St. Mary's Church in Dessau, which was destroyed during World War II. It was in Dessau Castle at the time the copy was made and returned to St. Mary's Church in 1779. St. John's Church in Dessau also houses other works by Cranach, such as The Last Supper, created by Cranach the Younger in 1565 and depicting German reformers as apostles, as well as members of the House of Ascania.

The model's rich costume and characteristic features (despite the raised face) indicate that this is indeed a disguised portrait of Margaret. In the 18th century, such portraits were inappropriate, which is why Lisiewski did not depict the Princess of Anhalt in the Crucifixion scene, but in prayer in a late Baroque palace, a typical setting of the 1750s. The painter probably relied entirely on study drawings, which explains the difference in the color of the dress (blue in Lisiewski's painting and green in the original). Around 1773, another artist, Friedrich Georg Weitsch (1758-1828), a painter from Brunswick, also copied the same portrait of Margaret as Saint Mary Magdalene, wearing a dark green velvet robe as in the original, but placed the scene in the interior of a Gothic church (Wörlitz Castle, inv. I-420). The facial features of Margaret's son, John of Anhalt-Zerbst (1504-1551), in his portrait by the workshop of Cranach the Elder (Anhalt Gallery, inv. M17-2006) are similar, confirming that this is a portrait of his mother.

Margaret, born in Wrocław on August 25, 1473, was the daughter of Henry the Elder (1448-1498), Duke of Ziębice and Count of Kłodzko, and his wife Ursula of Brandenburg (1450-1508). On her father's side, she was the granddaughter of the Bohemian King George of Podebrady (1420-1471). On January 20, 1494, in Cottbus, Margaret married Prince Ernest of Anhalt (1474-1516) and, after his death, assumed the regency over his minor sons: John, George, and Joachim. The princess strongly opposed the Reformation, which began to spread from the nearby town of Wittenberg in 1517. She found allies, among others, in the Archbishop of Magdeburg, Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490–1545), her cousin, who was frequently depicted in religious disguises (as Saint Jerome, Saint Erasmus, or Saint Martin). On July 19, 1525, Margaret founded the League of Dessau, an alliance of Catholic princes opposed to the Reformation.

Undoubtedly contrary to her wishes, the princes of Anhalt later became the most fervent supporters of the Reformation. A few years after Lisiewski made the copy of Margaret's portrait, her descendant, Catherine II (1729-1796), Empress of Russia, born as Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst in Szczecin, played a major role in the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Crucifixion with Saints and disguised portrait of Margaret of Ziębice (1473-1530), Princess of Anhalt by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1523, St. John's Church in Dessau.

Disguised portrait of Margaret of Ziębice (1473-1530), Princess of Anhalt, fragment of Crucifixion with Saints by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1523, St. John's Church in Dessau.

Portraits of Anne Lascaris and Magdalene of Savoy by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio and Bernardino Luini

At the beginning of 1524, Hieronim Łaski (1496-1541), Great Crown Carver and his brothers Jan (1499-1560) and Stanisław (1491-1550), went to the court of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, under the official pretext of committing France to make peace with its neighbors in consideration of the Ottoman threat. His mission was to sign a treaty with the French king concerning mainly the Duchy of Milan and a double marriage. Antoine Duprat (1463-1535), Chancellor of France (and a cardinal from 1527) and René (Renato) of Savoy (1473-1525), Grand Master of France and uncle of king Francis I, who dealt with Łaski on behalf of the king, immediately began to draw up a covenant treaty, including marriage contracts between children of kings of Poland and of France. The Polish and the French courts undoubtedly exchanged some diplomatic gifts and effigies on this occasion. After completing his mission at the French court Hieronim Łaski returned to Poland at the beginning of autumn 1524, leaving his brothers in Paris. Jan went to Basel where he met Erasmus of Rotterdam and Stanisław joined the court of Francis I and the French army and participated in the Battle of Pavia in 1525. He was then sent by Louise of Savoy (1476-1531), mother of king Francis I and Regent of France, to Spain.

Louise's half-brother, René, who when Francis ascended the French throne was made Governor of Provence and Seneschal of Provence, died in the Battle of Pavia. René married on 28 January 1501, Anne Lascaris (1487-1554). As a count of Tende he was succeeded by his son Claude of Savoy (1507-1566) and then by his other son Honorat II of Savoy, who married Jeanne Françoise de Foix and whose great-granddaughter Marie Louise Gonzaga become Queen of Poland in 1645. Marie Louise brought to Poland some paintings in her dowry, a small part of which preserved in Warsaw's Visitandines Monastery. A descendant of Claude of Savoy, Claire Isabelle Eugenie de Mailly-Lespine (1631-1685), a distant relative, lady-in-waiting and confidante of Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga married in 1654 Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac (1621-1684), Grand Standard-Bearer of Lithuania.

René of Savoy and Anne Lascaris also had three daughters. Magdalene of Savoy (1510-1586), who spent part of her youth at the cour of her aunt, Louise of Savoy, and on her decision she married Anne de Montmorency (1493-1567), Marshal of France, shortly after her father's death. The contract was signed on January 10, 1526 and the ceremony was held in royal palace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Younger Isabella (d. 1587), married in 1527 René de Batanay, count of Bouchage and Margaret (d. 1591) married in 1535 Anthony II of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny (d. 1557), brother of Françoise de Luxembourg-Ligny (d. 1566), Margravine of Baden-Baden.

The portrait of a young lady in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, created in the style of Bernardino Luini, is dated to around 1525 (oil on panel, 77 x 57.5 cm, inv. 1937.1.37). She is holding a zibellino (weasel pelt) on her hand, a popular accessory for brides as a talisman for fertility, and standing before a green fabric, a color being symbolic of fertility. This painting was acquired by the Gallery in 1937 and in the 19th century it was possibly owned by Queen Isabel II of Spain.

This Leonardo type of beauty from the Washington painting might become a muse for Luini (the paintings may also depict her sisters), as her features can be found in other works by this painter, however, ony few effigies are the most similar and more portrait-like, like the Nursing Madonna in a green dress in the National Museum in Warsaw (oil on panel, 74 x 56 cm, inv. M.Ob.624, earlier 129167). This painting was in the 19th century in the collection of Konstanty Adam Czartoryski (1774-1860), the son of famous art collector Princess Izabela Czartoryska (1746-1835), in his palace in Weinhaus near Vienna. In 1947 it was acquired by the museum in Warsaw. In the royal Wilanów Palace in Warsaw, there are two paintings of Cupids, possibly acquired by Aleksandra Potocka, and thought to be from Leonardo da Vinci's school in the 1895 inventory (oil on panel, 68 x 48 cm, Wil.1589 and 68 x 49 cm, Wil.1588). They are today attributed to Aurelio Luini, son of Bernardino. The conservation of both paintings revealed that they were initially a part of a larger composition showing Venus with two Cupids, possibly damaged, cut into pieces and then repainted. The pose of her legs indicate that it was a Venus Pudica type, similar to the statue of Eve from the late 15th century on the apse of the Milan Cathedral, attributed to a Venetian sculptor Antonio Rizzo. One Cupid is holding a myrtle, consecrated to Venus, goddess of love and used in bridal wreaths, the other is presenting his bow to Venus.

It is highly probable that Polish-Lithuanian monarchs Sigismund and Bona or Janusz III, Duke of Masovia, whose portrait by Bernardino Licinio, from the old collection of the dukes of Savoy, is in the Royal Palace of Turin, received the effigies of the eldest daughter of the Grand Master of France in guise of the Virgin and the goddess of love.

Preserved Venus by Bernardino Luini is also in the National Gallery of Art in Washington (oil on panel, 106.7 x 135.9 cm, inv. 1939.1.120). It was offered to the Gallery in 1939 and in the 19th century it was in England. The goddess' face is the same as in the mentioned portrait of a lady holding a zibellino and Nursing Madonna in Warsaw and landscape behind her is astonishingly similar to the view of Tendarum Oppidum, published in the Theatrum Statuum Sabaudiæ in 1682 in Amsterdam by Joan Blaeu. It is showing Tende (Tenda) in the southeastern corner of France, the hillside village, overlooked by the Lascaris castle and a mountain monastery. In 1261 Guglielmo Pietro I di Ventimiglia, lord of Tende, married Eudoxia Laskarina, sister of the Byzantine emperor, John IV Laskaris. In 1509 the county passed, by marriage, to the prince of Savoy, René, whose branch died out in 1754.

The same woman, also in a green dress, was depicted as Saint Mary Magdalene holding a container of ointment. This painting, also in the National Gallery of Art in Washington (oil on panel, 58.8 x 47.8 cm, inv. 1961.9.56), was until 1796 in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan and later in the collection of Lucien Bonaparte, Prince de Canino. She was also represented as this saint in the composition by Luini in the San Diego Museum of Art showing the Conversion of the Magdalene, most probably also from the collection of Lucien Bonaparte (oil on panel, 64.7 x 82.5 cm, inv. 1936.23).

The same effigy as in the Venus in Washington was also used like a template in two paintings from the French royal collection, both in the Louvre. One is showing biblical temptress Salome receiving the head of Saint John the Baptist (oil on canvas, transferred from wood, 62.5 x 55 cm, INV 361 ; MR 483). It was acquired by king Louis XIV in 1671 from Everhard Jabach. The second, showing the Holy Family, was acquired before 1810 (oil on panel, 51 x 43.5 cm, INV 359 ; MR 332).

In all mentioned paintings the face of a woman bears strong resemblance to effigy of Magdalene of Savoy, Duchess of Montmorency and her eldest daughter in a stained-glass window number 14 in the church of Saint Martin in Montmorency. This window, created in about 1563, is a pendant composition to a window of Magdalene's husband Anne de Montmorency. It shows her kneeling and recommended by her patron saint Mary Magdalene in a green dress and her coat of arms below. In the center of the nave of the church, which served as a burial place for the lords of Montmorency, was the magnificent tomb of Anne de Montmorency and his wife Magdalene. The marble recumbent figure of the Constable and his wife is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. It was commissioned by Magdalene and created bewteen 1576-1582 by Barthélemy Prieur and Charles Bullant and depict her in her old age and in a costume covering almost all her face, however, also in this effigy some resemblance is visible.

A very similar woman was depicted in a painting of a lady with a scorpion chain in a green dress in the Columbia Museum of Art, painted in Leonardo's style (oil on panel, 56.2 x 43.8 cm, inv. CMA 1961.9). Her costume is more from the turn of the 15th and 16th century, it is therefore Magdalene's mother Anne Lascaris. She was born in November 1487, under the astrological sign of Scorpio. When she was just 11 years old she married in February 1498 Louis de Clermont-Lodève, but her husband died just few months after the wedding. On January 28, 1501, at the age of 13, she married René. In astrology the various zodiac signs are identified with different parts of the body. Scorpio, the sign which rules the genitals, is the most sexually charged of all zodiac signs and associated with fertility. The work comes from the collection of Count Potocki in Zator Castle and Jabłonna Palace in Warsaw. When in Zator the portrait was viewed by Emil Schaeffer (1874-1944), an Austrian art historian, journalist and playwright, who described it in an article published in the Beiblatt für Denkmalpflege in 1909. The castle of the Piast dukes in Zator was built in the 15th century and extended in the 16th century after being acquired by king John Albert in 1494. Later the Zator estate was owned by different noble and magnate families including Poniatowski, Tyszkiewicz, Wąsowicz and Potocki, while the neoclassical palace of Bishop Michał Jerzy Poniatowski, brother of king Stanislaus II Augustus Poniatowski, in Jabłonna near Warsaw, was constructed by royal architect Domenico Merlini between 1775-1779. In 1940 during World War II the portrait was taken to Italy and sold to the family of princes Contini Bonacossi in Florence. In 1948 the work was acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and offered to the Columbia Museum of Art in 1961.

This portrait can be consequently linked, with high probability, with the collection of Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga or Claire Isabelle Eugenie de Mailly-Lespine (better known in Poland-Lithuania as Klara Izabella Pacowa), descendants of Anne Lascaris.

A copy of this portrait, attributed to the Master of the Virgin with Scales, after the work in the Louvre, or to follower of Leonardo da Vinci, which was in a collection in New York by February 1913, shows her in a gold silk dress (oil on panel, 60.6 x 50.5 cm, Christie's New York, January 27, 2010, lot 176).

Portrait of Anne Lascaris (1487-1554), countess of Tende with a scorpion chain by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, ca. 1500-1505, The Columbia Museum of Art.

Portrait of Anne Lascaris (1487-1554), countess of Tende in a gold silk dress by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio or follower, ca. 1500-1505, Private collection.

Portrait of Magdalene of Savoy (1510-1586) holding a zibellino by Bernardino Luini, ca. 1525, National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Portrait of Magdalene of Savoy (1510-1586) as Nursing Madonna by Bernardino Luini, ca. 1525, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portrait of Magdalene of Savoy (1510-1586) as Mary Magdalene by Bernardino Luini, ca. 1525, National Gallery of Art in Washington.

The Conversion of the Magdalene with a portrait of Magdalene of Savoy (1510-1586) by Bernardino Luini, ca. 1520-1525, San Diego Museum of Art.

Portrait of Magdalene of Savoy (1510-1586) as Salome receiving the head of Saint John the Baptist by Bernardino Luini, ca. 1525, Louvre Museum.

The Holy Family with a portrait of Magdalene of Savoy (1510-1586) by Bernardino Luini, ca. 1525, Louvre Museum.

Portrait of Magdalene of Savoy (1510-1586) as Venus against the idealized view of Tende by Bernardino Luini, ca. 1525, National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Cupid with a bow, fragment of a bigger painting "Venus with two Cupids" by workshop of Bernardino Luini, ca. 1525, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

Cupid with a myrtle, fragment of a bigger painting "Venus with two Cupids" by workshop of Bernardino Luini, ca. 1525, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

Portraits of Dukes of Silesia by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop

In 1526 Louis II Jagiellon, King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia died in the Battle of Mohács and Ottoman forces entered the capital of Hungary, Buda. The sultan re-conquered Buda in 1529, and finally occupied it in 1541. Illustrious, Italian style royal palace in the Hungarian capital was ransacked and burned and famous Bibliotheca Corviniana was in great part transferred to Istanbul. The fall of the Jagiellonian monarchy in Hungary and Bohemia was undeniably considered by many people as God's punishment for sins, also inside the union.

Jagiellonian elective monarchies and their allies with their bold, liberated and powerful females (according to the text of Pope Pius II on noble ladies in Lithuania, among others), multiculturalism and religious freedom represented everything that pious and prudish men and their obedient wives, inside and outside the union, were afraid of. They should destroy this debauchery and the memory of it and introduce their own order. They will, however, keep nude and erotic paintings, for themselves.

On November 14, 1518, just few days before her sister and few months after her uncle Sigismund I, king of Poland, Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), married Duke Frederick II of Legnica (1480-1547). Sophia, was a daughter of Sophia Jagiellon, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach and a cousin of Louis II Jagiellon, while her husband a member of the Polish Piast dynasty, who was first married to Sophia's aunt Elizabeth Jagiellon (1482-1517), was a vassal of Bohemian crown. Duchy of Legnica, created during fragmentation of the Kingdom of Poland in 1248, was a fiefdom of Bohemia from 1329 onwards. As a son of Ludmila of Poděbrady, daughter of George of Poděbrady (who was elected King of Bohemia in 1458) in his early youth he spent some time at the court of King Vladislaus II Jagiellon in Prague. In 1521 after death of his younger brother George (1481/1483-1521), he inherited the Duchy of Brzeg.

George I of Brzeg, Frederick's brother, married on June 9, 1516 with Anna of Pomerania (1492-1550). She was born as the eldest daughter of Duke Boguslaus X of Pomerania and his second wife Anna Jagiellon (1476-1503), daughter of King Casimir IV of Poland. They had no children and according to her husband's last will, Anna received the Duchy of Lubin as a dower with the lifelong rights to independent rule. Anna's rule in Lubin lasted twenty-nine years, and after her death it fell to the Duchy of Legnica. Even though Gustav Vasa, King of Sweden from 1523, sent a legation to Brzeg bearing a proposal of marriage to Anna, according to Nicolaus von Klemptzen's revision of Pomeranian chronicle (Chronik von Pommern), Anna remained unmarried.

When in 1523 the rich Frederick II, who was already Duke of Legnica, Brzeg, Chojnów and Oława, bought the principality of Wołów from the Hungarian nobleman John Thurzo, brother of the bishop of Wrocław, John V Thurzo, he almost encircled with his domains the main economic center of Lower Silesia - the city of Wrocław. In the same year, he converted to Lutheranism and granted the population religious freedom. In 1528 or 1529 his radical preacher Caspar Schwenckfeld, according to which the Vigin Mary "was simply a conduit through which the 'heavenly flesh' had passed" (after "A Companion to Anabaptism and Spiritualism, 1521-1700" by John Roth, James Stayer, p. 131), was banished by the duke, both from the court and the country. Just five years later the duke substantially changed his approach towards the freedom of religion. In 1534, he issued an edict against the ceremonies of Catholic worship in the Duchy of Legnica. He strengthened the fortifications of Brzeg, which was caused by the threat of the Turkish invasion of Silesia, ordered to demolish the Church of the Virgin Mary and the Dominican monastery and he established particularly close contacts with the Brandenburg elector. In the fall of 1536, a family reunion was held in Frankfurt an der Oder, and there it was decided to marry the children of the elector and the Duke of Legnica. A year later, on October 18, 1537, the Elector of Brandenburg Joachim II went to Legnica, where a document was signed regarding a double marriage and concluded a treaty of mutual inheritance. Frederick II's wife, Sophia, died earlier that year on May 24, 1537 in Legnica.

The other important union of the royal houses of Poland and Bohemia, Piast and Poděbrady, Anna of Głogów-Żagań (1483-1541) and Charles I (1476-1536), Duke of Ziębice-Oleśnica (Münsterberg-Oels) ruled the other principalities near Wrocław. Anna, the last surviving member of the Głogów-Żagań branch of the Silesian Piasts, and Charles were married on March 3, 1495 (marriage contract was signed on January 7, 1488). Charles, who remanied Catholic during the Reformation, became governor of Silesia in 1524. He was born in Kłodzko, and although he and his brothers had sold the county to their future brother-in-law Ulrich von Hardegg in 1501, he and his descendants continued to use the title of Count of Kłodzko. Between 1491-1506, the Jagiellons, including Sigismund, ruled in Głogów, a part of Anna's inheritance. The king of Poland renounced his claims to the Duchy in 1508, while his wife, Bona Sforza still made attempts to reintegrate it with the Kingdom of Poland in 1522, 1526 and 1547.

The Judgement of Paris

A small painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York shows a mythological scene of the Judgement of Paris (panel, 101.9 x 71.1 cm, inv. 28.221). Mercury, the god of trade and commerce and the supporter of success, in fantastic armour and headpiece, just brought before Paris, the son of King Priam of Troy, the three goddesses of whose beauty he is to be judge. He is holding the Apple of Discord, which, according to the myth, was inscribed - "For the most beautiful one", or "To the fairest one". Each goddesses attempted with her powers to bribe Paris; Juno offered power, Minerva, wisdom and skill in war and Venus offered the love of the world's most beautiful woman, Helen of Troy. Paris accepted Venus' gift and awarded the apple to her.

This painting is dated to about 1528 due to similarity to another, dated Judgement of Paris in Basel. Fashionable, princely armour and the hat of Paris from the 1520s, as well as composition of the scene, reflect perfectly the main princely courts around Wrocław at that time. We can distinguish in this courtly scene Frederick II of Legnica-Brzeg, a candiate to the Bohemian crown after death of king Louis in 1526, as Paris, and his wife Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach, who most probably commissioned the painting, as she is in the center of the composition, as Venus. Charles I of Ziębice-Oleśnica, chief governor of Silesia from 1527, is the "divine trickster" Mercury, son of Jupiter, king of the gods. Next to him is his wife Anna of Głogów-Żagań as Juno, the wife of Jupiter, queen of the gods, protector of women and associated with marriage and fertility. Juno is holding her hand on the arm of Minerva, the virgin goddess of wisdom, justice and victory and pointing to Cupid (meaning "desire"), the son of the love goddess Venus and the god of war Mars, who shoots an arrow at Minerva. The last goddess is Anna of Pomerania, Duchess of Lubin.

The castle on a fantastic rock in the background is also in "disguise". It is the main ducal residence of Silesia at that time, Legnica Castle, "dressed" as a palace of King Priam in Troy. The layout and overall shape of the edifice match perfectly the Legnica Castle (east-west) from the view of Legnica by Matthäus Merian, created in about 1680, or an anonymous drawing from 1604 in the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel.

The painting was until 1889 in the collection of Freiherr von Lüttwitz in their palace Lüttwitzhof in Ścinawka Średnia in the County of Kłodzko. The palace, initially a house built in 1466, was extended and rebuilt during renaissance and baroque. From 1628 it was owned by the Jesuits from Kłodzko and after the dissolution of the order in 1773, it was acquired by von Lüttwitz family, who owned it between 1788-1926. Ścinawka Średnia is not far from Ząbkowice Śląskie (Frankenstein), where in 1522 or 1524 Charles I started the reconstruction of the the original Gothic castle of the Dukes of Ziębice in the Renaissance style.

Other version of this composition dated "1528" is in the Kunstmuseum Basel (panel, 84.7 x 57 cm, inv. G 1977.37). From about 1936 it was in the Hermann Göring collection and bears the coat of arms of Marschall von Bieberstein, an old Meissen noble family, who settled in Silesia at the beginning of the 16th century, as well as in Pomerania and Prussia in the 18th and 19th centuries. Protagonists are the same and are arranged in the same order, however the castle in now on the left side of the painting and correspond to the west-east layout of the Legnica Castle.

There is also a drawing in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Brunswick (brown pen on paper, 20.3 x 14.4 cm, inv. Z 27 recto), most probably a study to the Basel version or to another, not preserved painting.

The same people were also depicted in two very similar compositions by Cranach and his workshop, in the Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie Dessau (panel, 59 x 39 cm, originally, inv. 15) and Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (panel, 35 x 24 cm, inv. 109. The painting in Dessau was damaged during World War II. It comes from the old collection of the Princes of Anhalt-Dessau. In about 1530 the principality of Anhalt-Dessau was ruled by three sons of Margaret of Ziębice (1473-1530), elder sister of Charles I, who also served as regent in their first years of rule. The "gods" are placed in the same order, however there is more emphasis on Anna of Pomerania-Minerva who is looking at the viewer. She was threfore a candidate to marry Margaret of Ziębice's eldest son John V of Anhalt-Zerbst (1504-1551), he however married on February 15, 1534 Anna's sister-in-law Margaret of Brandenburg (1511-1577), widowed Duchess of Pomerania. The castle on the hilltop is different and it is similar on the Karlsruhe version, where the protagonists were re-arranged and Anna of Pomerania is more like a Venus. This painting was in the late 17th century in castle of Toužim (Theusing) in Bohemia (inventory number 42). The Lord of Toužim in 1530, when this painting was created was Henry IV (1510-1554), Burgrave of Plauen and Meissen, who on September 19, 1530 obtained a confirmation of his fief from Emperor Charles V and in the summer of 1532 he married Margaret, Countess of Salm and Neuburg. It is highly possible that he earlier received a portrait of the Duchess of Lubin. It seems that probably in the 19th century the Dessau painting was censored because the transparent veils of the goddesses were replaced by thicker fabrics.

Portraits of Anna of Pomerania, Duchess of Lubin

Anna's pose and features as well as the castle in the background are almost identical with a small painting of Venus with Cupid stealing honey also from 1530, which was before World War II in the State Art Collections in Weimar, today in private collection (panel, 50 x 35 cm, Sotheby's London, June 24, 1970, lot 35). The castle in these paintings greatly resemble the Lubin Castle and the Catholic Chapel visible in the print published in 1738.

Another effigy of Anna as Venus created by Cranach's workshop in 1530 is known from two copies from the early 17th century, most probably created by a Flemish painter active in Prague. Both were likely taken by the Swedish army in Prague in 1648 or in Lubin in 1641, when the castle was conquered and destroyed by Swedish troops. One was before 2013 in private collection in Stockholm (oil on panel, 37.9 x 25.3 cm) and the other from Transehe-Roseneck collection in the Jaungulbene Manor (former territory of the Swedish Livonia) is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (oil on panel, 36.3 x 25.2 cm, inv. 1975.1.135). In about 1530 Anna was also depicted as Judith with the head of Holofernes. This painting, most probably from the collection of the Catholic bishops of Wrocław in their palace in Nysa, is from 1949 in the Museum in Nysa (panel, 61 x 40 cm).

Another version of the Nysa portrait in brown-green tones is in a private collection and, because of the French fleurs-de-lys on the woman's hat and on the blade of the sword, it has been considered to be the effigy of Joan of Arc. The painting comes from the collection of Mrs. Hilda Schlösser de Slowak in Montevideo, Uruguay and is attributed to the follower of Lucas Cranach (panel, 31.2 x 21 cm, Christie's London, July 5, 1991, lot 256). The fleurs-de-lys were probably added later to support the traditional identification, or if they were original, they could indicate the pro-French sympathies of the sitter. Judith's head is too large compared to other effigies and the head of Holofernes, indicating that this painting is based entirely on study drawings or other portraits.

Portraits of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg

The main protagonist in described paintings of the Judgement of Paris, Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach as Venus, is also known from other effigies. In a large Venus from about 1518 is the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa (panel, 178 x 71 cm, inv. 6087) her features are similar to these in the painting in Basel, as well as in the miniature as Venus and Cupid stealing honey dated "1529" in the National Gallery in London (panel, 38.1 x 23.5 cm, inv. NG6680). In the latter painting the castle in the background resemble the Legnica Castle as seen from the east. The facial features of the Virgin in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum (panel, 56.5 x 38.8 cm, inv. WRM 3207), dated "1518", are identical to these visible in the painting of Venus in Ottawa and the castle tower on the fantastic rock behind is similar to the smallest, eastern tower of the Legnica Castle. This Madonna was most probably in the collection of the Hungarian noble family Festetics, before being sold in Vienna in 1859. Another version of the Venus in Ottawa, painted on canvas, possibly a 17th century copy of a lost original, is in the Schlossmuseum in Weimar (oil on canvas, 178 x 80.8 cm, inv. G 2471). The prototype for this Venus was most likely the painting from the Imperial collection in Vienna of which only Cupid preserved (Kunsthistorisches Museum, panel, 81 x 36 cm, inv. GG 3530).

Copies of Madonna from the Wallraf-Richartz Museum are in the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh (panel, 41.9 x 26 cm, inv. 2000.3), owned before 1940 by the Viennese industrialist Philipp von Gomperz (1860-1948), and in the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht (panel, 40.5 x 26.3 cm, inv. 1003465), which was in private collection in the Netherlands before the Second World War. A good copy, perhaps by the master himself or by his workshop, cut into an oval shape probably at the end of the 17th century, is in a private collection in France (oil on panel, 48.5 x 38.5 cm).

Another, simplified version of Madonna from Wallraf-Richartz Museum against a dark background and dated "1516", is in private collection (panel, 42.5 x 28 cm). In 1961, the panel was in the Schwartz collection in Mönchengladbach. Stylistically, it seems to be a much later copy, hence the date 1516 may be commemorative and may not correspond to the actual date of creation of the work. In 1516, Sophia's husband, Frederick II of Legnica, became the Governor of Lower Silesia. The composition of the figures corresponds to the Madonna in Karlsruhe (portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań).

The effigy of Sophia from Wallraf-Richartz Museum was like a template used in another Virgin and Child dated "1529" in the Kunstsammlung Basel (panel, 84 x 58 cm, inv. 1227), which was sold in Augsburg in 1871 and in a fragment of a portrait as Lucretia from about 1530 in the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton (tempera and oil on panel, 31.1 x 23.5 cm, inv. 1996.07). She was also represented in other two paintings of Lucretia, in both her face and pose is very similar to that visible in the painting in Karlsruhe. The castle tower in the background is in both paintings similar to the towers of the Legnica Castle. One of these Lucretia portraits, in private collection, is signed with artist's insignia I W and dated 1525 (oil and gold leaf on panel, 101 x 59 cm, Sotheby's London, July 8, 2015, lot 36). Master IW or Monogramist IW, was a Czech or Saxon Renaissance painter, trained in the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, and active between 1520-1550 mainly in northwestern Bohemia. The other Lucretia, dated "1529", today in the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation in Houston (panel, 74.9 x 54 cm, inv. BF.1979.2), is similar to the portrait of Sophia's younger sister Anna of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1487-1539), Duchess of Cieszyn as Lucretia, created just a year earlier in 1528 (Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, inv. NM 1080). A version of Lucretia in Houston, more undressed, is in the Grunewald hunting lodge in Berlin (panel, 56.6 x 38.2 cm, inv. GK I 30187). The painting was probably originally in the Potsdam City Palace and in 1811 it was recorded in the Sanssouci Palace.

A Madonna, similar to that in the Kunstsammlung Basel (portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach), is in the Johannisburg Palace in Aschaffenburg (panel, 61 x 39.5 cm, inv. WAF 179). It comes from the Oettingen-Wallerstein collection, a family that had ties to Prussia and Bohemia. This painting is attributed to follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder and dated to about 1520-1530. It represent the model before a curtain held by two angels, a motif of glorification, and also as an artistic medium to heighten the three dimensionality of the figures.

Portraits of Anna of Głogów-Żagań, Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica

The last woman of this "divine trinity", Anna of Głogów-Żagań, was also represented in other works by Cranach and his workshop. Like Sophia, Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg, Anna also commissioned her effigies as Venus and as the Virgin in 1518. The Madonna and Child which was before World War II in the Collegiate Church in Głogów, today most likely in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, was dated "1518" (panel, 42 x 30 cm, Catalog of Wartime Losses, number 11622). Her face resemble greatly other effigies of Anna from the paintings of the Judgement of Paris. The Child is holding an apple, a symbol of original sin, but also a symbol of royal power (king Sigismund I, was a ruling Duke of Głogów between 1499-1506) and of new teaching (in 1518 Luther's first sermons on indulgences and grace were published in Wrocław). The castle on the mountian behid the Virgin can be compared with the main fortress of Silesia at that time, the Kłodzko Castle. A workshop copy of this painting is in the National Gallery of Norway in Oslo (panel, 40.6 x 28.1 cm, inv. NG.M.00173). Other version of this composition is in Karlsruhe (Staatliche Kunsthalle, panel, 35 x 24 cm, inv. 108), and like the Judgement of Paris there, it comes from the Toužim Castle in Bohemia. The effigy of the Virgin from Głogów was copied in the large painting of Venus, similar to that in Ottawa, which was in the early 20th century in the collection Kleiweg van Zwaan in Amsterdam, today in the Princeton University Art Museum (panel, 101.5 x 37.5 cm, inv. y1968-111).

The painting of Lucretia framed by Renaissance arch in the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht is similar to the Lucretia in Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton. It is attributed to workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder or so-called Master of the Mass of St Gregory and before 1940 it was in private collection in Amsterdam (panel, 39.5 x 27.5 cm, inv. 1003467). While Lucretia in Fredericton bears the facial features of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach, that in Maastricht has the face of Anna of Głogów-Żagań, similar to the Madonna in Oslo and Venus in Princeton University Art Museum. Another version of the Maastricht Lucretia, dated "1519" (top left with the artist's insignia), possibly a later copy from Cranach's workshop or follower, is in the Museum Haldensleben (panel, 27.4 x 17.5 cm, inv. IV/53/312). This painting comes from the collection of Friedrich Loock (1795-1871), royal building inspector, bequeathed to the city of Haldensleben in 1877 by his sister. Loock visited Italy on several occasions and another similar Lucretia depicting the same woman is in Italy, in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena (panel, 42 x 27.7 cm, inv. 537). The painting now preserved in Siena comes from the Piccolomini-Spannocchi collection and was probably originally in the fabulous collection of the Gonzaga family in Mantua (Celeste Galeria) or in the collection of Italian nobleman Ottavio Piccolomini (1599-1656), who served as marshal of the Holy Roman Empire.

Both women, i.e. the Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica and the Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg, commissioned similar portraits of themselves, because the surviving fragment of Lucretia (panel, 18 x 15.5 cm), which was in 1931 in the collection of the art dealer Paul Rusch in Dresden, is very similar to the one in the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, but the face is different.

The portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań as Venus with Cupid stealing honey, similar to the portraits of Anna of Pomerania, copied by the same Flemish painter, is in the National Gallery in Prague (oil on panel, 26.3 x 17.3 cm, inv. O 467). The original was lost, however, due to similarity to effigies in the Judgement of Paris and to portraits of Anna of Pomerania, it should be dated to about 1530. The castle in the background is a large Gothic manor, similar to that in the portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań as Judith in the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo (panel, 37.2 x 25 cm, inv. P.2018-0001). Exacly as Ziębice Castle, main seat of the Duchess and her husband in about 1530, which was built as a large manor house after 1488 in the eastern part of the city, close to the Gothic Nysa Gate and the Church of St. George. The painting as Judith was also copied by some Flemish painter in the early 17th century, today in the private collection. Both were most likely in the collection of Agnes von Waldeck (1618-1651), Abbess of Schaaken Monastery, great-granddaughter of Barbara of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1495-1552), Landgravine of Leuchtenberg, younger sister of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg. In 1530 Anna of Głogów-Żagań was 47, however the painter depicted her as a young girl, possibly basing on the same preparatory drawing that was used to create Madonna in Karlsruhe. He could not have done it otherwise, the gods are not getting old.

Around 1530, shortly after Cranach painted the nude effigies of the Silesian duchesses in the scenes of The Judgement of Paris, he created his famous "Golden Age", which is considered to depict the Garden of Paradise with twelve naked people of both sexes and animals, including two lions, in a walled paradise garden. Interestingly, some of the women in this highly erotic painting also resemble the Silesian duchesses. The castle in the background on the left is Colditz Castle near Leipzig, whose park was transformed into one of the largest zoos in Europe in 1523 (cf. "Schloss Colditz auf dem Gemälde "Das Goldene Zeitalter" von Lucas Cranach d. Ä." by Thomas Schmidt, Christa Syra, p. 264-271). This painting is now in the National Museum of Norway in Oslo (inv. NG.M.00519), while a copy dated "1534" was in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome in the 19th century, and later in a private collection in England.

Portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań (1483-1541), Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica as Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1518, Collegiate Church in Głogów, lost.

Portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań (1483-1541), Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica as Madonna and Child by follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1518, National Gallery of Norway in Oslo.

Portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań (1483-1541), Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica as Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1518, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.

Portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań (1483-1541), Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica as Venus and Cupid by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1518, Princeton University Art Museum.

Portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań (1483-1541), Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica as Lucretia by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1519, Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht.

Portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań (1483-1541), Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica as Lucretia by workshop or follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1519 or later, Museum Haldensleben.

Portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań (1483-1541), Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica as Lucretia by workshop or follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1519, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena.

Portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań (1483-1541), Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg nude (Venus) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1518, National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Venus and Cupid by workshop or follower Lucas Cranach the Elder, after 1518, Schlossmuseum in Weimar.

Cupid, fragment of portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Venus and Cupid by Lucas Cranach the Elder, after 1518, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1518, Wallraf-Richartz Museum.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1518, North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Madonna and Child by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1518, Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder or workshop, ca. 1518, Private collection.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Madonna and Child by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1529, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529, Kunstsammlung Basel.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Madonna and Child by follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Johannisburg Palace in Aschaffenburg.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Lucretia by Master IW, 1525, Private collection.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529, Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation in Houston.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1529, Grunewald hunting lodge.

Portrait of Dukes of Legnica-Brzeg, Ziębice-Oleśnica and Lubin in the scene of the Judgement of Paris against the idealized view of the Legnica Castle by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1528, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Study drawing for portrait of Dukes of Legnica-Brzeg, Ziębice-Oleśnica and Lubin in the scene of the Judgement of Paris against the idealized view of the Legnica Castle by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1528, Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Brunswick.

Portrait of Dukes of Legnica-Brzeg, Ziębice-Oleśnica and Lubin in the scene of the Judgement of Paris against the idealized view of the Lubin Castle by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, 1530, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.

Portrait of Sophia of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1485-1537), Duchess of Legnica-Brzeg as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529, National Gallery in London.

Portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań (1483-1541), Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by circle of Roelant Savery in Prague after original by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, early 17th century after original from about 1530, National Gallery in Prague.

Portrait of Anna of Głogów-Żagań (1483-1541), Duchess of Ziębice-Oleśnica as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo.

Portrait of Anna of Pomerania (1492-1550), Duchess of Lubin as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, 1530, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Anna of Pomerania (1492-1550), Duchess of Lubin as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by circle of Roelant Savery in Prague after original by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, early 17th century after original from 1530, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Portrait of Anna of Pomerania (1492-1550), Duchess of Lubin as Judith with the head of Holofernes by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Museum in Nysa.

Portrait of Anna of Pomerania (1492-1550), Duchess of Lubin as Judith with the head of Holofernes by workshop or follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Private collection.

Portraits of Anna of Brandenburg by Lucas Cranach the Elder

A painting showing Venus and Cupid as honey thief by Lucas Cranach the Elder in Güstrow Palace (panel, 83 x 58.2 cm, inv. G 199), dated 1527, is very similar to the work in the National Gallery in London, the women, however, are different. The painter used the same effigy in a small painting of the Virgin and Child from 1525, which was owned by the Swabian Stein family in 1549 (date and coat of arms at the back of the painting), today in the Royal Palace of Berchtesgaden (panel, 14.5 cm, inv. WAF 171).

The painting in Güstrow comes from the old collection of the estate (acquired by the Museum in 1851). Medieval castle in Güstrow, originally a Slavic settlement, was rebuilt in Renaissance style between 1558 and 1565 for Ulrich III, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1527-1603) by an Italian architect Francesco de Pario (Franciscus Pahr), who earlier constructed arcaded courtyard of the Brzeg Castle.

Mother of Ulrich was Anna of Brandenburg (1507-1567), the eldest daughter of Joachim I Nestor (1484-1535), Elector of Brandenburg. On January 17, 1524 in Berlin she married Duke Albert VII of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1486-1547), and few months later she bore her first child Magnus, who died in childbirth.

While Albert's elder brother Henry V of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, promoted the Reformation, Albert opposed it, although he also leaned toward the Lutheran doctrin (according to Luther's letter to Georg Spalatin on May 11, 1524). Henry joined the Protestant Torgau League on June 12, 1526, against the Catholic Dessau League of Anna's father, and in 1532 he publicly declared himself a follower of Luther. While the duke Albert ceded the parish church in Güstrow to the Protestants in 1534, Anna turned away from Lutheranism to become a Catholic and after the death of her husband in 1547, she moved to Lübz, which was the only part of the country that had not joined the Lutheran Reformation.

Facial features of a woman in both described paintings greatly resemble Anna of Brandenburg's brother Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg and her son Ulrich. Her portrait in the Doberan Minster was created by Cornelius Krommeny in 1587, twenty years after her death.

Ancient Roman tradition of depiction in the guise of deities, was undeniably one of the factors that repulsed people from Roman Catholicism during the Reformation. Their sometimes unpopular rulers portrayed themselves as the Virgin and Saints.

Portrait of Anna of Brandenburg (1507-1567), Duchess of Mecklenburg as Virgin and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1525, Royal Palace of Berchtesgaden.

Portrait of Anna of Brandenburg (1507-1567), Duchess of Mecklenburg as Venus and Cupid by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1527, Güstrow Palace.

Lamentation of Christ with disguised portraits of Joachim II of Brandenburg, his mother and sisters by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder

Although his stay in Berlin is not confirmed by the sources, Lucas Cranach the Elder created not only several paintings for the electoral court, but also portraits, which indicates that many of them were based on study drawings made by members of his workshop sent to Brandenburg (it is assumed that Cranach travelled there in 1529 and 1541, compare "Cranach und die Kunst der Renaissance unter den Hohenzollern ...", p. 18). These works include two portraits of Joachim I Nestor (Staatsgalerie Aschaffenburg, inv. 8514 and Grunewald hunting lodge, inv. GK I 9377), both dated "1529", the portrait of his son Joachim II Hector, also dated "1529" (Philadelphia Museum of Art, inv. Cat. 739) and the portrait of Joachim II's first wife, Magdalena of Saxony (Art Institute of Chicago, inv. 1938.310). The oldest surviving painting is the portrait of Joachim II, when he was prince, dated "1520" and depicting him at the age of 16, according to the Latin inscription on the upper edge (ÆTATIS / EI/VS SEDE/CIMO ANNO / VERO SA/LV/TIS 1520, Grunewald hunting lodge, inv. GK I 10809). This inscription is not entirely correct, because the prince born on January 13, 1505 was 15 years old at that time, which indicates that it was difficult to demand a correction, so the painter did not see the real model at that time. The magnificent portrait of Joachim's second wife, Hedwig Jagellon, in a dress with her father's S monogram on the sleeves is dated around 1537 and attributed to Hans Krell, whose stay in Berlin is also not confirmed by the sources (Grunewald hunting lodge, inv. GK I 2152). In 1533 Krell was granted citizenship of Leipzig, where his presence is confirmed until 1573.

Another painting from Cranach's workshop, probably connected with Joachim II (1505-1571), is now in the Protestant St. Mary's Church (Marienkirche) in Berlin (panel, 151.5 x 118.5 cm). It comes from the Franciscan Church in Berlin, although it is also thought to have been part of the Passion cycle commissioned by Joachim II from Cranach's workshop in 1537/38 for the collegiate church in Cölln. Stylistically, however, the painting is dated earlier to the 1520s. Following the Reformation introduced in Berlin in 1539, the monastery was dissolved and the Franciscan friars had to leave. The scene depicts the Lamentation of Christ, and the effigy of a boy depicted as Saint John the Apostle, supporting the body of the dead Christ, is very portrait-like. He looks very much like Joachim II, based on his portrait in armour at the age of 16. Therefore, the other protagonists in this scene should represent members of Joachim's family, the Virgin is his mother Elizabeth of Denmark (1485-1555), who is surrounded by her three daughters, as the Three Marys - Anna (1507-1567), Elizabeth (1510-1558) and the youngest Margaret (1511-1577). The eldest daughter of the Electress of Brandenburg looks at the viewer in a meaningful way to inform us that this scene has an additional meaning. So why was such a scene with disguised portraits made? The story of Elizabeth of Denmark's brother provides a clue and an explanation. In 1521-1522, Christian II (1481-1559) attempted to introduce a radical reform in Denmark. The nobility rose up against him in 1523, and he was exiled to the Netherlands. After attempting to regain the throne in 1531, he was arrested and held captive for the rest of his life. The face of Christ resembles that of Christian II according to his portrait painted by Cranach between about 1523 and 1530 (Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig, inv. 44). This is why the Electress of Brandenburg, her daughters and her son mourn the fate of her brother (and their uncle).

No portrait of Elizabeth of Denmark, painted during her lifetime, is known. Since Cranach painted her husband and son on several occasions, many portraits of the Electress were probably commissioned in Wittenberg. If many of these portraits of Elizabeth were in religious or mythological disguises, they probably await discovery or were destroyed after 1539. Around 1616, Andrzej Köhne-Jaski, a Calvinist amber merchant from Gdańsk and a diplomat in the service of Sigismund III, commented on the destruction of paintings by Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach in Brandenburg (compare "Das Leben am Hof ..." by Walter Leitsch, p. 2358). The same applies to the effigies of Joachim II's second wife, Hedwig Jagellon (1513-1573).

Lamentation of Christ with disguised portraits of Joachim II of Brandenburg (1505-1571), his mother and sisters by workshop or circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1523-1531, Protestant St. Mary's Church in Berlin.

Portraits of Christine of Saxony and Elizabeth of Hesse by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Christine of Saxony, the eldest daughter of Barbara Jagiellon, Duchess of Saxony, was born on 25 December 1505. When she was almost 18 years old, on 11 December 1523, she married Landgrave Philip I of Hesse (1504-1567) in Kassel to forge an alliance between Hesse and Saxony. Next year, in 1524, after a personal meeting with the theologian Philipp Melanchthon, Landgrave Philip embraced Protestantism and refused to be drawn into the anti-Lutheran league formed in 1525 by Christine's father, Duke George of Saxony, a staunch Catholic.

Duke George sensed the danger that his daughter would be introduced to the Lutheran religion in Hesse. He was informed by his secretary that some at Philip's court were Lutherans, so he admonished his daughter to remain true to the faith of her fathers and to resist Lutheran teaching. In a letter to her father from Kassel, dated February 20, 1524 Christine assured him that she would not become a "Martinis" (Lutheran): "I would like to thank you for the good instructions you have given me, oh that I will not become a martinis, you have no worries (Ich bedank mich keigen Ewer genaden der guten underrichtunge, di mir Ewer g. gethan haben, och das ich nicht martinis sal werden darf Ewer g. kein sorge vor haben). In March 1525, however, at the age of 21, Landgrave Philip publicly declared himself in favor of new religion and expropriated the monasteries in Hesse. On March 11, 1525, Landgravine Christine, convinced by her husband, wrote to her father as a follower of Luther, a glowing testimony of her new faith. It is on this occassion that she commissioned her portrait as biblical Judith from the Saxon court painter, Lucas Cranach the Elder, inspired by Italian and Venetian painting (Botticelli, Vincenzo Catena). The portrait in the collection of the Syracuse University (panel, 83.5 x 54.6 cm, inv. 0018.006), greatly resemble the effigies of Christine's sister, mother and brother by Cranach as well as effigy of her maternal grandmother Elizabeth of Austria (1436-1505), Queen of Poland by Anton Boys.

Her double portraits with her husband, in Kassel by Jost vom Hoff and in Gripsholm Castle near Stockholm, were created long after her death in late 16th or 17th century and resemble more the portrait of Landgrave's morganatic wife, Margarethe von der Saale. Christine and her younger sister Magdalena (1507-1534), future Margravine of Brandenburg, were depicted as relatives of Sigismund I in De Jegellonum familia liber II, published in Kraków in 1521.

Christine loved her husband, but despite her sacrifice and her devotion he never desired or loved her (das ich nihe liebe oder brunstlichkeit zu irr gehabt), as he declared later, and as early as 1526 he began to consider the permissibility of bigamy.

On August 27, 1515, Christine's brother John of Saxony (1498-1537) married in Marburg Elizabeth of Hesse (1502-1557), sister of Landgrave Philip of Hesse. The bride continued to live in Marburg, where she was born and it was not until January 1519 that she moved to Dresden.

In 1529, at the invitation of Landgrave Philip, the Marburg Colloquy took place at Marburg Castle which attempted to solve a disputation between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli over the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Like biblical Salome, Elizabeth was between two camps, "the old religion" of the family of her husband and "the new religion" of her brother. Elizabeth leaned towards the Lutheran teachings and she constantly fought for her independence against old Duke George, John's father, and his officials. Both John and Elizabeth were also depicted as relatives of Sigismund I in De Jegellonum familia liber II. The couple remained childless and when John died in 1537, Elizabeth moved to Rochlitz.

Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist from the collection Esterhazy in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (panel, 88.4 x 58.3 cm, inv. 132, acquired in 1871) depicts a woman in rich costume against the background of a castle, which shape and topography are very similar to views of the Marburg Castle from the turn of the 16th and 17th century. This portrait is known from many versions, created by Cranach workshop. Among the best are copies in the royal Wilanów Palace in Warsaw (oil and tempera on panel, 91.8 x 55.5 cm, inv. Wil.1519, recorded in inventory of 1696) and in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (panel, 58.6 x 59.8 cm, inv. Gm217, before 1811 in the Holzhausen collection in Frankfurt am Main), which was cut in half. Facial features of a lady resemble greatly the effigy of Elizabeth of Hesse from the so-called Sächsischen Stammbuch, created in 1546 by Cranach workshop and facial features of her brother Landgrave Philip in his portrait in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

The same woman was also depicted as Venus in a painting from Emil Goldschmidt's collection in Frankfurt (acquired before 1909), today in the National Gallery in London (panel, 81.3 x 54.6 cm, inv. NG6344). She reaches up to grab a branch from the apple tree behind her, an allude to paintings of Eve by Cranach. An apple is a symbol of sexual temptation and a symbol of royal power, but also a symbol of new beginnings and a new faith. A quote most often attributed to Martin Luther reads: "If I knew that the world were to end tomorrow, I would plant an apple tree today". It is very similar to the effigy of Katarzyna Telniczanka, mistress of Sigismund I, as Venus with Cupid stealing honey (lost during World War II). The painting was inscribed in Latin, not in German, therefore it was most likely sent to some Catholics abroad, possibly as a gift to the Polish royal couple Sigismund and Bona Sforza.

Portrait of Christine of Saxony (1505-1549), Landgravine of Hesse as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1525, Syracuse University Art Galleries, New York.

Portrait of Elizabeth of Hesse (1502-1557), Hereditary Princess of Saxony as Venus and Cupid (Cupid complaining to Venus) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1527-1530, National Gallery in London.

Portrait of Elizabeth of Hesse (1502-1557), Hereditary Princess of Saxony as Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

Portrait of Elizabeth of Hesse (1502-1557), Hereditary Princess of Saxony as Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

Portrait of Elizabeth of Hesse (1502-1557), Hereditary Princess of Saxony by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.

Portraits of Duchess Anna of Cieszyn by Lucas Cranach the Elder

On 1 December 1518 Princess Anna of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1487-1539), third daughter of Sophia Jagiellon, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach and a cousin of Louis II, King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, married Prince Wenceslaus of Cieszyn, of the Piast dynasty. Earlier that year her uncle, Sigismund I, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania married Bona Sforza.

Wenceslaus was made co-ruler of his father in 1518 as Wenceslaus II and a Duke of Cieszyn (Teschen), one of Silesian duchies, created in 1290 during the feudal division of Poland. The Duchy was a fiefdom of the Bohemian kings since 1327 and was incorporated into the Lands of the Bohemian Crown in 1348. Anna bore him a son, who died shortly after birth, and two daughters, Ludmila and Sophie. The second son of Wenceslaus - Wenceslaus III Adam was born after his father's death on November 17, 1524. The old Duke Casimir II, who outlived his two sons, died on 13 December 1528. Since the time of his birth, as his only heir, Wenceslaus III Adam was placed under the guardianship of his grandfather, who had him engaged to Mary of Pernštejn (1524-1566) when he was just one-year-old.

In his will, the Duke left his Duchy to his grandson under the regency of his mother Anna of Brandenburg-Ansbach and the Bohemian magnate John IV of Pernštejn (1487-1548), called "The Rich". The young duke was sent to be educated at the imperial court in Vienna.

After death of Louis II during the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Habsburgs took the western part of divided Hungary and Bohemia. Both Hungary and Bohemia were elective monarchies and the main goal of the new ruler, Ferdinand I, was to establish a hereditary Habsburg succession and strengthen his power in territories previously ruled by the Jagiellons, also in Silesian duchies.

A painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder or workshop in Kassel shows a woman in allegorical guise of biblical heroine Judith, who cleverly defeated an enemy who has been feigning friendship (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, panel, 87.3 x 57.4 cm, inv. GK 16). Her hat, instead of a brooch, is adorned with a gold coin, so-called Joachim thaler minted in Kingdom of Bohemia from 1519 until 1528. The crowned Bohemian lion with title of king Louis, LVDOVICUS PRIM[us]: [D] GRACIA: R[ex]: BO[hemiae]: is clearly visible. The new coins minted by Ferdinand I in 1528 shows his personal coat of arms on reverse and his effigy on horseback, amidst a group of subjects paying homage to him on obverse. This painting was acquired before 1730, like the portraits of the Jagiellons in Kassel, identified by me.

In the backgound of the painting there is a distant town of Bethulia, however the castle on the top of a fantastic hill is very similar to the shape of the Cieszyn Castle, visible in a drawing from 1645. Another later version of this painting from the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, painted in the 1530s, is in the Lviv National Art Gallery (oil on panel, 54.5 x 37.5, inv. Ж-758). The painting comes from the Lubomirski collection.

The same woman is also depicted as Lucretia, the Roman heroine and a victim of the tyrant's abuse, whose suicide ignited the political revolution, in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, most probably taken from Prague by the Swedish army (oil on panel, 57 x 38 cm, inv. NM 1080). It is dated 1528 and the castle atop the fantastic rock is similar to Fryštát Castle used by the Dukes of Cieszyn as their second seat. The castle was built in 1288 and reconstructed in the first half of the 15th century by Duchess Euphemia of Masovia. Facial features of a woman in a painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder, which was in private collection in Munich by 1929 (oil on panel transferred to canvas, 81.6 x 55 cm, Sotheby's New York, January 24, 2008, lot 30), are almost identical with the painting in Stockholm. She is holding a bunch of grapes, a Christian symbol of redemptive sacrifice, and two apples, a symbol of original sin and the fruit of salvation. Like in Stockholm painting, the landscape in the background is fantastic, however, the overall layout of the castle is identical with the Fryštát Castle. This painting is also dated 1528.

In 1528 John IV of Pernštejn, who was made governor of Moravia by Ferdinand I in 1526, relocated the ducal court to Fryštát Castle.

The widowed Duchess Anna, beyond doubt, opposed all these actions against her power and commissioned some paintings, to express her dissatisfaction. Famous Lucas Cranach, the court painter of her aunt Barbara Jagiellon, Duchess of nearby Saxony, which also opposed the Habsburgs, was the obvious choice.

Portrait of Anna of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1487-1539), Duchess of Cieszyn as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lucas Cranach the Elder or workshop, 1526-1531, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel.

Portrait of Anna of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1487-1539), Duchess of Cieszyn as Judith with the head of Holofernes by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530s, Lviv National Art Gallery.

Portrait of Anna of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1487-1539), Duchess of Cieszyn as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1528, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

Portrait of Anna of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1487-1539), Duchess of Cieszyn holding a bunch of grapes by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1528, Private collection.

Portraits of Federico II Gonzaga as the Christ by Titian and followers

In his letter of June 1529 from Vilnius to Alfonso d'Este (1476-1534), Duke of Ferrara, Giovanni Andrea Valentino (de Valentinis) of Modena, court physician to Sigismund I and Bona Sforza, recounts a rather particular event. Queen Bona was showing the court barber, the Mantuan Giacomo da Montagnana, the portrait of Marquis Federico II Gonzaga (1500-1540) that had just been brought to her. He wrote that she demonstrated it "with the same ceremony with which the mantle of Saint Mark is shown in Venice", so that the barber had to kneel before it with folded hands, reported Valentino in a letter to Alfonso (after "Królowa Bona, 1494-1557: czasy i ludzie odrodzenia" by Władysław Pociecha, Volume 3, p. 187). He was most likely referring to the Feast of the Relics of Our Lady (May 28), when portions of the Blessed Virgin's robe, mantle, veil and girdle are displayed for veneration by the faithful in Venice. Montagnana was the Marquis' representative at the Polish court from 1527 and this clearly ironic remark was not without reason.

Gonzaga was known in all European courts for his dissolute life and tried to redeem his sins, at least officially, to have the marriage contract with Maria Paleologa (1508-1530), celebrated on April 15, 1517, annulled. He accused Maria and her mother Anne of Alençon of attempting to poison his mistress Isabella Boschetti. On 6 May 1529, convinced by Isabella d'Este, Federico's mother, Pope Clement VII annulled the marriage, which was never consummated. He was then betrothed to Giulia d'Aragona of Naples (1492-1542), the daughter of Federico I of Naples and distant relative of Queen Bona, by Emperor Charles V, which gave Federico the coveted title of Duke of Mantua in 1530. As a grandson of Eleanor of Naples (1450-1493), the Duke was also a relative of Queen Bona. Federico never married Giulia, but in 1531 he married Margaret Palaeologa (1510-1566), the sister of his first wife. He suffered long from syphilis and died on 28 June 1540 at his villa at Marmirolo.

In his famous portrait by Titian, now in the Prado Museum in Madrid, he wears a doublet of blue velvet, painted with expensive ultramarine, with gold embroidery. From his neck hangs an expensive gold and lapis lazuli rosary that testifies to his faith, a visible sign of his redemption from the stormy past. Similar is the role of the Maltese dog, more appropriate as a symbol of fidelity for female portraits than for male portraits. Interestingly, the blue tunic and red trousers (with protruding codpiece) are typical colours of the clothes in the effigies of Christ (red robe overlaid by a blue mantle). This portrait was most likely made in 1529 because on April 16 of that year, Federico apologized to his uncle Alfonso d'Este for retaining Titian "because he has started a portrait of me which I greatly desire to be finished" (perché ha conienzo un retratto mio qual molto desidero sii finito).

The comparison with one of the most sacred relics of the Republic of Venice in Valentino's letter indicates that the portrait of Federico was by the Venetian painter, Titian in this case, and that the Marquis was depicted as a Christian saint or even as the Christ, the Redeemer of sins, which explain this unusual veneration. We will probably never know it for sure as the Jagiellonian collections were looted, destroyed and dispersed due to the multiple invasions of the country and the subsequent impoverishment when many of the valuables that survived were sold.

Connected with family ties of the ruling houses, the royal collections of Poland-Lithuania were beyond any doubt as sumptuous as those of Spain, Austria and Florence, if not richer. Effigies of relatives and members of the reigning houses were frequently exchanged. Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici (1492-1519), Duke of Urbino as the Redeemer of the World (Salvator Mundi) by Giovanni Cariani or Bernardino Licinio, created in about 1516 (National Museum in Wrocław), was most likely such a diplomatic gift.

In the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, which contains many family collections of the House of Habsburg, there is a painting of Christ as the Redeemer of the World, holding his hand on a crystal ball, which signifies the world and alludes to the universal validity of redemption and to God as the creator of light (oil on canvas, 82.5 x 60.5 cm, inv. GG 85). Scholars date the work to around 1520-1530 and the inclusion of a Hebrew inscription on Christ's tunic referring to Kabbalah suggests that the work was commissioned by a well-educated patron.

This painting was attributed to workshop of Titian and it was mentioned in the treasury of the Imperial collection at the beginning of the 18th century. After thorough examitation of the canvas in 2022, it is now considered to be a genuine Titian. X-ray revealed a completely different composition underneath - a Madonna and Child. Titian, like Tintoretto and other Venetian workshops, frequently reused other canvases. Perhaps this Madonna was a painting for which the artist did not receive payment or it was a study for another painting. It also revealed that the face was changed, the model initially had sharper eyebrows and thicker nose. Despite these changes, the resemblance to the mentioned portrait of Federico with a rosary is striking. Beard, lips and an embroidered band on his attire are very much alike, which suggest that Titian and his workshop were using the same set of study drawings and just changing elements of the composition. The resemblance to two other portraits of the Duke of Mantua by workshop of Titian (1539-1540, private collection) and follower, possibly Flemish Anton Boys, who copied many portraits from the Imperial collection (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna), is also visible. It is possible that the face of Christ was repainted by a court painter of the Habsburgs after the Council of Trent (1545-1563), when such representations were no longer appropriate.

Christ coming out of the tomb (Resurrection) is visible on the reverse of a gold coin scudo del sole of Federico II Gonzaga with his coat of arms from 1530-1536, bearing inscriptions in Latin: FEDERICVS II MANTVA DVX I / SI LABORATIS EGO REFICIAM ("If you work, I will give you rest"). Beautiful gold coin of Federico's father, Francesco II Gonzaga (1466-1519), Marquis of Mantua with his bust, designed by Bartolomeo Melioli between 1492-1514, shows him in a hairstyle and beard evoking the Renaissance representations of Jesus.

Later, around 1570, the painter reused the same effigy in his Salvator Mundi (Christ Blessing), kept at the Hermitage Museum, acquired from the Barbarigo collection in Venice (inv. ГЭ-114).

Another version from Titian's workshop at Cobham Hall, collection of the Earls of Darnley, shows the same model as the Blessing Christ (oil on canvas, 73.6 x 57 cm). In 1777 it was in the Vitturi collection in Venice and earlier in the Ruzzini collection, also in Venice. Carlo Ruzzini (1653-1735), who rebuilt Palazzo Ruzzini was the 113th Doge, so it is possible that the painting was originally in the state collections of the Republic.

Similar effigy of Christ with the same model, although more in profile, as in the mentioned coin of Francesco II Gonzaga, is in the Pitti Palace in Florence (oil on canvas, 77 x 57 cm, Palatina 228). It is also dated to around 1530 or 1532 ("Savior" mentioned in a letter dated March 23, 1532). In 1652 the picture was in Vittoria della Rovere's wardrobe, so it was earlier, either in the family collections of the Dukes of Urbino or sent to the Medicis as a gift. Although attributed to Titian, this work can also be considered to be from the workshop or from a follower like Bonifacio Veronese (Bonifacio de' Pitati), whose style is very close. Bonifacio's Sacra Conversazione with portraits of Sigismund I and Bona Sforza is also in the Pitti Palace. A copy of this painting, most probably from the early 19th century, was sold in 2004 (Bonhams London, April 21, 2004, lot 39). This diversity of representations and provenance from the ducal collections also suggests that this is a disguised portrait of an important figure.

The same man was also depicted as Saint James the Great, patron saint of Spain, in the Last Supper painted before 1564 for the Spanish king Philip II, now in the Escorial near Madrid, where Titian depicted himself as one of the apostles (compare "El marco de la Última Cena de Tiziano en El Escorial" by Jesús Jiménez-Peces, p. 202-203). Philip visited Mantua in January 1549 and, around 1579/80, Domenico Tintoretto painted the scene of the Entry of the Infante Philip into Mantua, now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (inv. 7302), undoubtedly drawing inspiration from other portraits to depict the Habsburg monarch.

Portrait of Federico II Gonzaga (1500-1540), Marquis of Mantua with a rosary around his neck and a dog by Titian, ca. 1529, Prado Museum in Madrid.

Portrait of Federico II Gonzaga (1500-1540), Marquis of Mantua as the Redeemer of the World (Salvator Mundi) by Titian or workshop, ca. 1529, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Federico II Gonzaga (1500-1540), Duke of Mantua as Blessing Christ by workshop of Titian, ca. 1530-1532, Cobham Hall. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Federico II Gonzaga (1500-1540), Duke of Mantua as the Christ by follower of Titian, possibly Bonifacio Veronese, ca. 1530-1532, Pitti Palace in Florence.

Portrait of Federico II Gonzaga (1500-1540), Duke of Mantua as the Christ by follower of Titian, early 19th century (?), Private collection.

Portrait of Federico II Gonzaga (1500-1540), Duke of Mantua as Saint James the Great, fragment of the Last Supper by Titian and workshop, before 1564, El Escorial.

Portrait of Hernán Cortés by Titian or circle

Around 1529 King Ferdinand of Austria, personally handed (manu porrexit et dedit) to Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki an interesting book written in Latin with the words: "that what is written in it should be believed as in the Gospels". It was the work of the conqueror of Mexico, Hernán Cortés (Ferdinandus Corthesius), containing a description of his deeds, Liber narrationum. In 1529, Cortés, who arrived in Europe in 1528, stayed at the imperial court to personally justify himself for accusations of various kinds of abuse. On this occasion he presented his monarch with the gifts of a new world, and next to them, the greatest peculiarity for Europe, the Indians. In a letter of July 23, 1529 from Kraków (Acta Tomiciana, XI / 287) chancellor Szydłowiecki even asked the Polish envoy Jan Dantyszek, who was staying at the court of Charles V to bring him an Indian. "The glorious deeds" of Cortés, a man singularis et magnanimi, as Szydłowiecki writes to Dantyszek, apparently interested him keenly since he sought the "image" (effigies) of the famous Spaniard, according to letter of 27 April 1530 (Acta Tomiciana, XII / 110), and he also received it from Dantyszek (after "Kanclerz Krzysztof Szydłowiecki ..." by Jerzy Kieszkowski, Volume 3, pp. 336, 618-619).

During his stay in Spain in 1529, Cortés obtained from Charles V the title of Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca and the government over future discoveries in the South Sea and returned to Mexico in 1530. At that time, Dantyszek accompanied the Emperor on his journey from Barcelona (July 1529) through Genoa and Piacenza to Bologna - the place of the coronation, where the court stopped for a longer time and where Dantyszek stayed from the autumn of 1529 to the spring of 1530. The next longer stop was in Mantua, from where, after May 30, he set out with the imperial court through Trento and Innsbruck to Augsburg, where the emperor met his brother Ferdinand I and where Dantyszek stayed until the beginning of December 1530, taking part in the Imperial Diet (after "Itinerarium Jana Dantyszka" by Katarzyna Jasińska-Zdun, p. 198).

It is said that in 1530, Titian was invited to Bologna by Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, through the agency of Pietro Aretino. There he made a most beautiful portrait of the Emperor showing him in armour holding a commander's baton, according to Vasari's "Lives of the Artists" (confirmed by a letter dated 18 March 1530 from Giacomo Leonardi, ambassador of the Duke of Urbino to the Republic of Venice), considered lost. According to other authors, they did not meet in person in 1530 (after "The Earlier Work of Titian" by Sir Claude Phillips, p. 12), while a number of art historians are insisting that the painter must have seen the sitter to paint a portrait and attributing errors to Vasari. However, it is also likely that Titian created his portrait based on a preparatory drawing by another artist who was in Bologna.

In 1529 Christoph Weiditz, a German painter and medalist, active mainly in Strasbourg and Augsburg (he went to the royal court in Spain in 1528-1529), created a bronze medal of Cortés at the age of 42 (DON · FERDINANDO · CORTES · M·D·XXIX · ANNO · aETATIS · XXXXII). It should be noted that the similarity of the model with the most famous images of Cortés is quite general. That same year and around Weiditz also created a medal of Jan Dantyszek and of Elisabeth of Austria (d. 1581), illegitimate daughter of Emperor Maximilian I (after "Artyści obcy w służbie polskiej" by Jerzy Kieszkowski, p. 15).

There is no mention of any precious material, such as gold or silver, regarding the "image" of the Spanish conquistador for Szydłowiecki, so it was most likely a painting commissioned in Italy from an artist close to the Imperial court. Dantyszek was renowned for his artistic taste and commissioned and received exquisite works of art. Conrad Goclenius, the closest confidant of humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam, thanks to Dantyszek's support received a rich beneficium and various gifts from him: furs, bas-reliefs, his portrait, for which he gave Dantyszek a portrait of Erasmus painted by Holbein (In praesentia in ejus rei symbolum mitto tibi dono effigiem D. Erasmi Roterodami, ab Ioanne Holbeyno, artificumin - wrote Goclenius in a letter of April 21, 1531 from Leuven), a bust of Charles V and others, which were part of a later rich collection at the ducal residence of Dantyszek in Lidzbark (after "Jan Dantyszek - człowiek i pisarz" by Mikołaj Kamiński, p. 71). In a letter to Piotr Tomicki of March 20, 1530, Dantyszek sadly informed that for eighty ducats he sold to Anton Welser an emerald received from Prince Alfonso d'Este during his stay in Ferrara in 1524, which he intended to give to the addressee, to the wife of Helius Eobanus Hessus he offered a chain and pearls set in gold, a Spanish horse to Piotr Tomicki, gold (or ducats) from Spain to his friend Jan Zambocki, earrings or rings (rotulae), unspecified handicrafts of Spanish women and scissors or pliers (forpices) to Queen Bona, and expensive silk fabrics and gold coins with images of rulers to Johannes Campensis (after "Itinerarium Jana Dantyszka", pp. 224, 226).

In April 1530, when he sent his letter to Szydłowiecki, Dantyszek was in Mantua and the most important effigies of Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua created at that time were painted by Titian - in 1529 and 1530, one is in Prado in Madrid (inv. P000408, after "El retrato del Renacimiento", pp. 215-216). Therefore, the diplomat must have commissioned or purchased a painting from the Venetian master.

On October 29, 2019 a portrait of gentleman (Retrato de caballero) by Italian school was sold in Seville, Spain (oil on canvas, 58 x 48 cm, Isbilya Subastas, lot 62). This portrait is almost an exact, reduced version of a painting attributed to Peter Paul Rubens (The Courtauld Gallery in London, oil on canvas, 98.2 x 76.6 cm, inv. P.1978.PG.354), painted between 1608-1612, a copy of a painting by Titian which the painter probably saw in Mantua. Other copy, attributed to Jan Steven van Calcar, is in the Klassik Stiftung Weimar (oil on canvas, 96.7 x 74 cm, inv. G 49), acquired at an auction in Vienna in 1820 and previously considered a work by Rubens. Another copy was auctioned as manner of Francesco Salviati (1510-1563), who lived and worked in Florence and Rome, with periods in Bologna and Venice (oil on canvas, 96.5 x 73.7 cm, Freeman's Philadelphia, July 17, 2013, lot 1012). An engraving by George Vertue dated 1724 bears an inscription identifying the sitter as Hernán Cortés and the artist as Titian (HERNAN CORTES. Ex pictura TITIANI or Titian pinx - Scottish National Portrait Gallery, FP I 38.1 or British Museum, R,7.123). The same effigy was also reproduced as Cortés by Titian in Historia de la conquista de México, published in Madrid in 1783 - engraving by Fernando Selma (HERNAN CORTES. Titian Vecel pinx. / Ferdin Selma. sc.). The style of the painting sold in Seville is indeed close to Titian and his entourage, in particular Bonifazio Veronese, hence it is a one of a series of similar effigies ordered in Venice, the lost painting from the Gonzaga collection in Mantua copied by Rubens being probably a prototype. The man in the described portrait resembles the effigy of the Spanish explorer and conqueror of Mexico, published in Academie des sciences et des arts … by Isaac Bullart in 1682 (Volume 2, p. 277, National Library of Poland, SD XVII.4.4179 II), his portrait in the Museum of Cultures of Oaxaca (Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca) in Santo Domingo, Mexico and a likeness from the Portrait Gallery of the Viceroys (series in the Salon de Cabildos, Palacio del Ayuntamiento), both most probably from the 17th century. Cortés died on December 2, 1547 in Castilleja de la Cuesta near Seville.

Consequently, the painting made around 1530 for Chancellor Szydłowiecki was most likely a copy of the described painting, possibly by Titian himself, as it was a gift for one of the most important people in Poland-Lithuania-Ruthenia.

Portrait of Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) by Titian or circle, ca. 1530, Private collection.

Portrait of Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) by Jan Steven van Calcar, ca. 1530, Klassik Stiftung Weimar. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) by Francesco Salviati, after 1530, Private collection.

Portrait of Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) by Peter Paul Rubens, 1608-1612, Courtauld Gallery in London.

Portrait of George I of Pomerania by Jan Cornelisz. Vermeyen

"Family ties with the Polish kings, permanent dynastic and political contacts allowed to broaden horizons, to adopt new artistic models, to shape new needs and preferences. [...] Dynastic ties were an important element in the formation of the artistic tastes and needs of the court. They facilitated the circulation of works of art, which were offered as gifts on many official and private occasions, and contributed to the exchange of artists. The princely court of West Pomerania was no exception among the European ruling courts. Many artists working at other courts also found employment here. This is how they ended up in West Pomerania: Hans Schenck - Scheusslich, Antoni de Wida, Friedrich Nüssdorfer, Cornelius Crommeny, Giovanni Perini and many others. The extensive contacts of the Griffins allowed them to use court art centres from Prague to the Netherlands, through Hamburg, Kołobrzeg to the north and Saxony to the south", reads the introduction to the catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition at the Royal Castle in Warsaw and the National Museum in Szczecin in 1986-1987, referring to the important role played by the marriage of Boguslaus X with the daughter of Casimir IV Jagiellon, Anna (1476-1503), as well as the consideration of the person of Duke Barnim X (XII), as a candidate for the hand of the Polish-Lithuanian princess Anna Jagiellon (1523-1596), daughter of Sigismund I and Bona Sforza, later queen and wife of Stephen Bathory (after "Sztuka na dworze książąt Pomorza Zachodniego w XVI-XVII wieku ...", ed. Władysław Filipowiak, p. 8).

The 1560 inventory of Wolgast Castle confirms the existence of three painted portraits of the eldest son of Boguslaus X and his wife Anna Jagiellon - George I of Pomerania (1493-1531). They belonged to his son Philip I (1515-1560) and most of them were probably made during the Duke's lifetime, i.e. before 1531. The inventory mentions a bust-length portrait "made in Leipzig" (Ein Brustbilde M. G. H. Herzog Georgens zu Stettin Pommern, zu Leipzig gemacht, item 1), painted on wood (An Contrafei in Olifarbe auff Taffeln), probaly by Hans Krell. Among the paintings on canvas (An Contrafej auff Tüchern) there were two other portraits of Philip's father: "Duke George of Pomerania etc. in trousers and doublet" (Herzog Georg zu Pommern pp. in Hosen und Wambß, item 6), most probably a full-length portrait, and another "with the cloak" (mit dem Rocke, item 18) as well as portrait of Emperor Ferdinand I (item 1) and a portrait of Philip I by Lucas Cranach painted in 1541 (item 27, after "Neue Beitrage zur Geschichte der Kunst und ihrer Denkmäler in Pommern" by Julius Mueller, p. 31-33).

This inventory also lists several tapestries, probably commissioned or purchased in Flanders or made in Szczecin by the Dutch weaver Peter Heymans, including the tapestry depicting Boguslaus X's pilgrimage to the Holy Land between 1496-1498 (Peregrinatio Domini Bugslai zum heiligen Lande) and the Baptism of Christ with portraits of dukes of Saxony and Pomerania. The surviving work by Heymans, the Croy Tapestry from 1554 in the Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald, includes a portrait of Duke George, most likely based on a likeness created by Cranach or his workshop. Two drawings with portraits of the duke attributed to Antoni Wida were included in the so-called "Book of effigies" (Visierungsbuch), lost during the Second World War. The inventory of Wolgast Castle from 1560 also mentions two portraits of Emperor Charles V (items 8, 14) and the Netherlandish Historia Judit (item 18), as well as the "Image of the Virgin Mary, holding the infant Jesus, [painted] with oil [paint]" (Marien Bilde, heldt das Kindlein Jesu, mit Olie, item 11), which could be the painting currently in the Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald (oil on wood, 38 x 27 cm), which comes from the collection of Victor Schultze (1851-1937). This small painting is attributed to the circle of Quentin Massys (ca. 1466-1530) and according to a sticker on the back, it was once in Wolgast Castle (... und aus dem Wolgaster Schloß an die Universität in Greifswald gekommen seyn). It is therefore very likely that this painting is a disguised portrait of Philip's grandmother, Anna Jagiellon, who ruled Pomerania during her husband's pilgrimage between 1496 and 1498 (she was then 20 years old and the mother of three children).

In the former territories of the Duchy, there are no known portraits of George I created during his lifetime. The three-quarter-length portrait in the Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald is a copy made around 1750 of a painting originally in the town hall in Anklam, itself painted around 1650 (inscription: GEORGIUS. I. D. G. DUX / STETINI POMERANIÆ ...).

Before the Second World War, the Ludwig Roselius Museum in Bremen owned a Portrait of a Nobleman (Porträt eines Edelmannes), the man with the red beard on a green background, believed to be the work of Hans Krell (oil on panel, 71 x 53 cm, inv. LR 1593). This painting, listed as coming from an English collection, was auctioned between 26 and 27 April 1935 in Berlin (after "Die Bestände der Firmen Galerie van Diemen & Co., GmbH - Altkunst, Antiquitäten, GmbH", part II, p. 41, item 105). The painting was sold with an attribution to the Dutch painter Jan Cornelisz. Vermeyen (ca. 1503-1559), which seems more correct given the surviving photographs of the painting. The gesture of a man's hand, the frontal representation and the general composition of the painting are very typical of this painter, who was court painter to Margaret of Austria in Mechelen from 1525. Similar paintings can be found, for example, in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (Portrait of a Man, inv. 739) and in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (Portrait of a Woman in a Leopard Cloak, inv. 37.370).

The fact that the man from the painting had a red beard does not mean that he actually had that hair colour, as evidenced by two similar bust portraits of King Ferdinand I - one in the Fondation Bemberg in Toulouse (inv. 1056) with dark brown hair and the other in a private collection (Christie's London, Auction 13674, December 8, 2017, lot 106) with red hair. The portraits of Ferdinand are part of several versions of the same composition, each with some differences, attributed to Vermeyen and his workshop, the original of which is thought to have been made around 1530 when the painter travelled with Archduchess Margaret to Augsburg and Innsbruck from 25 May to 27 October 1530, during which time he painted portraits of various members of the imperial family. It is also possible that the portrait of Ferdinand mentioned in the Wolgast inventory was made by Vermeyen for Duke George.

The facial features of a red-bearded nobleman are very similar to those in the mentioned portraits of Duke George I of Pomerania, who in two of his best-known effigies, now in Greifswald - from the Croy Tapestry and a portrait made around 1750 - has blond and dark hair and beard respectively.

Portrait of George I of Pomerania (1493-1531) by Jan Cornelisz. Vermeyen, ca. 1530, Ludwig Roselius Museum in Bremen, lost during World War II. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Madonna and Child with cherries, possibly a disguised portrait of Anna Jagiellon (1476-1503), Duchess of Pomerania by circle of Quentin Massys, ca. 1500, Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald.

Portraits of Dukes of Pomerania and Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg by Lucas Cranach the Elder

On January 23, 1530 in Berlin, Duke George I of Pomerania (1493-1531), son of Anna Jagiellon (1476-1503), sister of Sigismund I, married Margaret of Brandenburg (1511-1577), daughter of Joachim I Nestor (1484-1535), Elector of Brandenburg.

Margaret brought a dowry of 20,000 guilders into the marriage. She was quite unpopular in Pomerania due to Brandenburg's claims to Pomerania. In 1524 George crafted an alliance with his uncle King Sigismund I, which was directed against Brandenburg and Duke Albert of Prussia and in 1526 he went to Gdańsk, to meet his uncle and paid homage of Lębork and Bytów, thus becoming a vassal of the Polish crown together with his brother Barnim IX (or XI) the Pious.

George died a year after the marriage on the night of May 9 to 10, 1531 in Szczecin. He was succeeded by his only son Philip I (1515-1560), who became a co-ruler of the Duchy alongside his uncle, Barnim IX. Few months later on November 28, 1531 Margaret bore a posthumous child, a daughter named after her father Georgia.

As a result of the division of the principality, which took place on October 21, 1532, Philip I became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast, ruling over the lands west of the Oder and on Rügen and his uncle Barnim IX, the Duke of Pomerania-Szczecin. As the lands of Margaret's jointure/dower, a provision after the death of her husband, were in Pomerania-Wolgast her stepson had to sort out the relationship with his unloved step-mother and to levy a special tax to pay her dowry and redeem her jointure. On February 15, 1534 in Dessau she married her second husband Prince John IV of Anhalt (1504-1551) and on December 13, 1534, Philip and Barnim IX introduced Lutheranism in Pomerania as the state religion.

Barnim IX was a renowned patron of arts and brought many artists to his court. He also collected works of art and he, his brother and nephew frequently commissioned their effigies in Cranach's workshop. The so-called "Book of effigies" (Visierungsbuch), which was lost during World War II, was a collection of many drawings depicting members of the House of Griffin, including preparatory or study drawings by Cranach's workshop.

In February 1525 Barnim concluded an alliance with the House of Guelph by marrying Anne of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1502-1568), daughter of Henry the Middle (1468-1532), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Margaret of Saxony (1469-1528). Henry, who sided with the French king Francis I during the Imperial election, and so earned the enmity of the elected Emperor Charles V, abdicated in 1520 in favor of his two sons Otto (1495-1549) and Ernest (1497-1546), and went into exile to France. He returned in 1527 and tried to regain control of the land. When this failed, he went back to France and returned only after the imperial ban was lifted in 1530. Henry spent his last years in Wienhausen Castle, near Celle, where he lived "in seclusion" and died in 1532. He was buried in the Wienhausen Monastery.

A few days after the death of his wife Margaret of Saxony on December 7, 1528, he entered into a second, morganatic marriage in Lüneburg with Anna von Campe, who had been his mistress since 1520 and who had previously borne him two sons. In autumn 1525, Henry's eldest son Otto secretly and against his father's wishes married a maid-in-waiting of his sister Anna, Mathilde von Campe (1504-1580), also known as Meta or Metta, most probably a sister of Anna von Campe. When Otto renounced participation in the government of the principality in 1527, Ernest became sole ruler.

In 1527 with the advent of the Lutheran doctrine to Brunswick-Lüneburg, the life of Otto's and Ernest's sister Apollonia (1499-1571) change fundamentally. She was born on March 8, 1499 as the fifth child of Duke Henry the Middle and Margaret of Saxony. When she was five years old, her family sent her to the Wienhausen Monastery. At the age of 13 Apollonia was consecrated, and at the age of 22 she takes her religious vows. Ernest summoned Apollonia to Celle, on the occasion of her mother's planned trip to relatives in Meissen. Her brothers and her mother urged her to change her religion, but Apollonia refused. Back in Celle, where she was the educator of the ducal offspring, she met Urbanus Rhegius, the reformer and her brother's theological adviser. He become her spiritual partner and brought her closer to the new doctrine. Nonetheless, she remained Catholic.

At the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 Ernest signed the Augsburg Confession, the fundamental confession of the Lutherans, and George and Barnim received the imperial enfeoffment. Despite the opposition of the entire community, the Wienhausen Monastery was transformed from a Roman Catholic into a Lutheran establishment for unmarried noble women (Damenstift) in 1531 (compare "Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik", ed. Erika Langbroek, Volume 56, p. 210).

Duke Ernest, like Barnim, also commissioned portraits from the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder. His portrait by Cranach's workshop is in Lutherhaus Wittenberg (inv. G89), and a study drawing to a series of portraits is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Reims (inv. 795.1.273).

Ernest married Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1508-1541) on June 2, 1528. She was a daughter of Duke Henry V (son of Sophia of Pomerania) and Ursula, daughter of Elector John Cicero of Brandenburg. The Duke and his bride, probably shortly after or before the marriage, were depicted as first parents - Adam and Eve in a painting by Cranach the Elder, now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (inv. 42), while the young bride was also painted by Cranach in 1526 wearing a cap embroidered with her father's monogram H and a bridal wreath (from the collection of Julius Caesar Czarnikow (1838-1909) in London), according to my identification.

A portrait of young woman in guise of Judith comes from the old collection of the Grunewald hunting lodge (Jagdschloss Grunewald), near Berlin (panel, 74.9 x 56 cm, inv. GK I 1182). This Renaissance villa was built between 1542 and 1543 for Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg, elder brother of Margaret of Brandenburg. The painting is dated 1530, below the window, a date when Margaret become the Duchess of Pomerania and the castle visible in distance is similar to the Klempenow Castle, which was part of Margaret's jointure. The same woman was also depicted as Venus with Cupid stealing honey in a painting by Cranach the Elder from the private collection in London (panel, 52.5 x 37 cm, Rouillac in Cheverny, June 10, 2001, lot 60). She is wearing bridal wreath with a single feather on her head, thereby announcing that she is ready for marriage. The painting is very similar to portrait of Beata Kościelecka as Venus from 1530 in the National Gallery of Denmark and it is dated "1532" on the trunk of the tree, a date when Margaret was already widowed and her stepson wanted to get rid of her. A good copy of this painting comes from the collection of August Salomon in Dresden (panel, 52.5 x 35 cm), who also owned the portraits of Sigismund Augustus and his sister Isabella Jagiellon as children painted by Cranach (National Gallery, Washington, inv. 1947.6.1 and inv. 1947.6.2), identified by me. This copy is, however, also considered to be a work by a late 19th-century imitator of Cranach.

In the same year, she was also represented in a popular courtly scene of Hercules with Omphale. Two partridges, a symbol of desire, hang directly over her head and her face features are very similar to the effigies of Margaret's father and siblings. Above the woman opposite there is a duck, associated with Penelope, queen of Ithaca, marital fidelity and intelligence. This symbolism as well as woman's effigy match perfectly Anne of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who became a driving force behind the division of Pomerania in 1532 and who considered that George's intent to marry Margaret of Brandenburg threatened her own position. The man depicted as Hercules is therefore Anna's husband, Barnim IX. The painting is dated 1532 below the inscription in Latin. It was acquired by the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin before 1830 and lost in the World War II (panel, 80 x 118 cm, inv. no. 576). The capital of Germany was the city where many items from the collection of dukes of Pomerania were transferred, including the famous Pomeranian Art Cabinet.

Another painting depicting Hercules and Omphale created by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1532 was also in Berlin before 1931 (Matthiesen Gallery), today in private collection (oil on panel, transferred to canvas, 83.3 x 122.3 cm, Christie's New York, Auction 23294, February 5, 2024, lot 20). It is very similar to the painting showing Barnim IX, his wife and his sister-in-law and it have similar dimensions, composition and style. In this painting two partridges hang only over the couple on the left. The man is holding his right hand on the breast and heart of a woman, she is his love. The young woman to the right is placing a white cloth over his head like a bonnet in a way of engaging with him like a sister. The older woman in a white bonnet of a married or a widowed lady behind her is handing Hercules the distaff. It is therefore their mother or stepmother. Consequently the scene depict Ernest I of Brunswick-Lüneburg, his wife Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, his sister Apollonia and their stepmother Anna von Campe.

The two young women from the latter painting were also depicted together in a scene of Judith with the head of Holofernes and a servant from the late 1530s. This painting, today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, comes from the Imperial Gallery in Prague (transferred before 1737), therefore it was sent to or acquired by the Habsburgs (panel, 75.2 x 51 cm, inv. GG 3574). The woman in red from the Vienna painting was also depicted in another painting by Cranach, painted a few years earlier around 1530 and showing her as the biblical Judith. This painting is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was acquired in 1911 from the collection of Robert Hoe in New York (panel, 89.5 x 61.9 cm, inv. 11.15). Her face features are very similar to effigies of Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, her father and sons.

The same woman can also be identified in a painting by workshop of Cranach, which comes from the collection of Baron von Eckardstein in Plattenburg Castle between Schwerin and Berlin (panel, 21.5 x 16.5 cm, Lempertz in Cologne, November 14, 2020, lot 2015). It shows her half-naked in a fur coat and is considered to be a painting of a Roman Lucretia with the lower part cut off.

Portrait of Margaret of Brandenburg (1511-1577), Duchess of Pomerania as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530, Grunewald hunting lodge.

Portrait of Margaret of Brandenburg (1511-1577), Duchess of Pomerania as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1532, Private collection.

Portrait of Margaret of Brandenburg (1511-1577), Duchess of Pomerania as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder, after 1532 (19th century?), Private collection.

Hercules at the court of Omphale with portrait of Barnim IX (1501-1573), Duke of Pomerania, his wife Anne of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1502-1568), and his sister-in-law Margaret of Brandenburg (1511-1577) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1532, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1508-1541), Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Portrait of Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1508-1541), Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg as Lucretia by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530-1535, Private collection.

Hercules at the court of Omphale with portrait of Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1497-1546), his wife Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1508-1541), his sister Apollonia (1499-1571) and stepmother Anna von Campe by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1532, Private collection.

Portrait of Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1508-1541) and her stepsister Apollonia of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1499-1571) as Judith with the head of Holofernes and a servant by Lucas Cranach the Elder, after 1537, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portraits of Anne of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duchess of Pomerania as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop and Hans Kemmer

Among the preparatory drawings for the portraits in the so-called "Book of effigies" (Visierungsbuch), which was in the Pomeranian State Museum in Szczecin before World War II, one of the most important was that of Anne of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1502-1568), wife of Barnim IX (1501-1573), Duke of Pomerania-Szczecin. Its style was close to that of Cranach and it was probably made by a member of the painter's workshop sent to Pomerania. The student made annotations on a delicate watercolour and pen drawing with colours of fabrics and detailed drawings of the duchess's jewellery, in order to facilitate the work in the painter's studio in Wittenberg. Hellmuth Bethe (1901-1959) considered it to be the work of Cranach himself, as a costume study for a lost painting (after "Die Bildnisse des pommerschen Herzogshauses", p. 7), but since his stay in Pomerania is not confirmed in the sources, as is his meeting with the Duchess elsewhere, the option with a member of his workshop seems more likely. A similar drawing depicted Barnim IX's sister, Margaret of Pomerania (1518-1569). Both drawings focus on the ladies' clothing, while the faces are treated very generally, indicating that better studies of their faces were made separately. The drawings were probably made around 1545, because a similar effigy of the duchess was placed on the stone plaque with the portraits of Barnim and Anne from their residence in Kołbacz (former monastery), created in 1545 (National Museum in Szczecin), in which clothing and jewellery were rendered with great precision. Another similar effigy of Barnim's wife was included in the so-called Croy Tapestry of 1554 with her coat of arms and a corresponding inscription confirming her identity (Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald). Anne's costume, as well as her facial features on the Croy Tapestry differ from the image in the "Book of effigies", as well as the Kołbacz plaque, and it was probably also made by Cranach's workshop in Wittenberg. A year earlier, in 1553, study drawings for portraits of the sons of Philip I of Pomerania-Wolgast (1515-1560), who most likely commissioned the Croy Tapestry, were made by Cranach's workshop, also included in the "Book of effigies". Thus, around 1545 and in 1553, portraits of Duchess Anne were also made in Wittenberg and, like the bridal portraits of Mary of Saxony (1515-1583), Duchess of Pomerania-Wolgast from 1534 or the portraits of Sibylle of Cleves (1512-1554), Duchess of Saxony from 1533, they were made in several copies for various members of the family and friendly courts in Europe.

It is interesting to note that the mentioned Kołbacz plaque is attributed to Hans Schenck the Younger, known as Scheusslich, a Saxon sculptor who lived mainly in Berlin and worked for the electoral court. Before 1526, Schenck worked for Duke Albert of Prussia (1490-1568) in Królewiec (Königsberg). Duke Albert recommended him in 1526 to Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki for the Polish court as a sculptor capable of depicting human portraits in metal, stone and wood, and he was back in Królewiec in 1528 (after "Zespół pomorskich płyt kamiennych ..." by Maria Glińska, p. 351). In the 1540s Schenck is supposed to have worked in Pomerania for Dukes Philip I and Barnim IX. His biography is another perfect illustration of the artistic relations between the ruling houses of Sarmatia, Pomerania, Prussia and Brandenburg.

None of the portraits of Anne of Brunswick-Lüneburg painted by Cranach's workshop seem to have survived. Anne was the daughter of Duke Henry I of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1468-1532) from his marriage to Margaret of Saxony (1469-1528), daughter of Elector Ernest of Saxony. Electors Frederick III (1463-1525) and John the Constant (1468-1532), known from so many effigies produced by Cranach and his workshop, were therefore her uncles. Anne and Barnim were married on February 2, 1525 in Szczecin. She had a significant influence on the power in Pomerania and was one of the driving forces behind the break between Barnim and his brother George I (1493-1531) and the division of Pomerania in 1532 (Von nun an hörte die Herzogin Anna zu seinen Widersachern. Sie und Andere brachten es denn auch dahin, daß Herzog Barnim noch auf demselben Landtage eine Theilung der Lande forderte, after "Geschichte der Einführung der evangelischen Lehre im Herzogthum Pommern" by Friedrich Ludwig von Medem, p. 21). She believed that George put her husband at a disadvantage in the government of Pomerania and that his intention to marry Margaret of Brandenburg (January 23, 1530 in Berlin) undermined her own position. The effigies of such an important figure in the power in Pomerania must therefore have also been made before 1545.

Another interesting fact is the absence of portraits of Anne in the 1560 inventory of Wolgast Castle, the residence of her brother-in-law Philip I of Pomerania-Wolgast. Philip owned portraits of his mother, his wife and his two sisters (items 3-6), as well as of his uncle Barnim (item 8), but no effigy of Barnim's wife. This inventory, however, lists three paintings with the "Story of Judith" (Historia Judit). The first was listed among the portraits and other paintings on canvas (An Contrafej auff Tüchern, item 26), together with portraits of Emperor Ferdinand I (item 1), two portraits of Philip's father George (items 6, 18), and a portrait of Philip painted by Cranach in 1541 (item 27). Two other "Stories of Judith" are listed among the "Other Pictures" (Andere Bilder, items 2, 18), while the last one was made in the Netherlands. Similarly, Philipp Hainhofer (1578-1647), who visited Szczecin in 1617, does not mention any portrait of Duchess Anne in his diary, but he confirms that in the apartments of Duchess Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1595-1650), wife of Duke Ulrich of Pomerania (1589-1622), there was a large painting by Cranach depicting Caritas. This painting was probably destroyed during the Swedish rule in Szczecin between 1630 and 1720. Since many paintings of Caritas by Cranach are very portrait-like effigies, this painting could be a disguised effigy of Duchess Anne. Furthermore, Cranach's paintings depict Caritas as a naked woman surrounded by children.

Such disguised portraits were popular in northern European countries in the 16th and 17th centuries, as evidenced by the naked image of Terminus, the Roman god of boundaries, bearing the features of Erasmus of Rotterdam, painted by Hans Holbein the Younger around 1532 in Basel or London (Cleveland Museum of Art, inv. 1971.166) or the disguised portrait of Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Calenberg (1628-1685), Queen of Denmark and Norway, depicted as the naked Juno (Hera), the queen of the gods, goddess of marriage and childbirth in a ceiling painting by Abraham Wuchters from the 1660s in the Queen's Bedchamber at Rosenborg Castle.

The National Museum in Wrocław holds a painting depicting Judith with the head of Holofernes (panel, 85 x 54 cm, inv. MNWr VIII-2670). The provenance of this painting has not been established with certainty; it could be Judith with the Head of Holofernes from the collection of the Silesian humanist and book collector Thomas Rehdiger (1540-1576) or another Judith considered to be a work by Cranach, a gift from the auctioneer Pfeiffer, both mentioned in the Catalogue of the Picture Gallery of the House of the Silesian States in Wrocław from 1863 (after "Katalog der Bilder-Galerie im Ständehause zu Breslau", items 623, 135). This painting, like all similar ones by Cranach and his followers, was probably created between 1525 and 1530 and is attributed to Hans Kemmer (ca. 1495-1561), a pupil of Cranach in Wittenberg from around 1515. In 1520 he returned to his hometown of Lübeck, closer to Szczecin than Wrocław. Before the introduction of the Reformation in Lübeck in 1530, Kemmer painted mainly religious scenes and disguised portraits, such as the Courtship (or The Offer of Love), inspired by Cranach's 6th Commandment "You shall not commit adultery" from 1516 (Lutherhaus in Wittenberg, inv. G25) and considered to be a betrothal portrait of the merchant Johann Wigerinck (1501-1563) and his second wife Agneta Kerckring, married in 1529, or Christ and the Adulteress painted in 1530 (St. Anne's Museum in Lübeck) bearing the coat of arms of Wigerinck and his second wife. The beardless disciple standing behind Jesus in the last painting is considered to be another disguised portrait of Wigerinck (after "Hans Kemmer ..." by Christoph Emmendörffer, p. 100-106). Was Wiegerinck therefore in an adulterous relationship with Agneta before the death of his first wife Margarete Possick, the daughter of the Livonian merchant Peter Possick? Like Lucas Cranach in Wittenberg, Hans Kemmer had a monopoly and a well-organized workshop in Lübeck.

The woman depicted as Judith resembles Duchess Anne of Brunswick-Lüneburg according to her confirmed effigies. If this painting arrived in Silesia in the 16th century, it could be a gift from Pomerania to the Silesian dukes. The Judith is not the only painting by Kemmer connected with Silesia, for in the National Museum in Warsaw there is a well-painted Adoration of the Magi attributed to him, which is probably also full of disguised portraits, as the costumes and portrait-like representations in this painting suggest (panel, 159 x 110 cm, inv. M.Ob.2537 MNW). Before World War II, it belonged to the consistorial councilor Konrad Büchsel (1882-1958) in Wrocław. The Adoration of the Magi is a version of the painting now in St. Wenceslas Church in Naumburg, attributed to the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder or to Kemmer. The Wrocław Judith, however, is not an original invention by Kemmer, but rather a copy of an original by Cranach, as two other very similar compositions from the Wittenberg workshop are in a private collection. One of them was in France before 1962 (panel, 84 x 58 cm) and the other in London (panel, 62 x 42 cm, Sotheby's, October 30, 1997, lot 42). In this context, it is also quite possible that a study drawing of Duchess Anne made in Szczecin was sent to Wittenberg and Lübeck, which explains the differences in the appearance of the face as well as in the costume of the model.

Portrait of Anne of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1502-1568), Duchess of Pomerania as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1530, Private collection.

Portrait of Anne of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1502-1568), Duchess of Pomerania as Judith with the head of Holofernes by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530, Private collection.

Portrait of Anne of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1502-1568), Duchess of Pomerania as Judith with the head of Holofernes by Hans Kemmer, ca. 1530, National Museum in Wrocław.

Adoration of the Magi by Hans Kemmer, 1520s, National Museum in Warsaw.

Portraits of Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, Queen of Sweden as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder

In 1526, the thirty-year-old king of Sweden, Gustav I Vasa (1496-1560), sent Johannes Magnus, Archbishop of Uppsala to matchmaking for a thirteen-year-old Hedwig Jagiellon (1513-1573), daughter of Sigismund I and Barbara Zapolya. However, as the ruler of a poor country, elected king three years earlier from among the Swedish lords, and leaning towards Lutheranism, he was considered too modest party for the Jagiellonian princess and this candidacy was rejected (after "Jagiellonowie ..." by Małgorzata Duczmal, p. 295). He also tried in vain to obtain the hand of the widowed Duchess of Brzeg, Anna of Pomerania (1492-1550), and earlier he was rejected by Dorothea of Denmark (1504-1547), who become Duchess of Prussia and Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1508-1541), later Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, whose parents thought his reign was too unstable and he was heavily in debt.

Gustav was recommended to open negotiations with Saxe-Lauenburg. The duchy was considered rather poor but its dynasty was related to several of Europe's most powerful dynasties, including the House of Pomerania. The negotiations for the hand of Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg (1513-1535), second daughter of Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, began in 1528. Finally, with mediation from Lübeck, they were completed and in late summer 1531, Catherine was escorted to Sweden. The wedding took place in Stockholm on her 18th birthday, September 24, 1531.

Almost a year before the marriage, on November 12, 1530, Catherine's father Magnus received the enfeoffment of his duchy from Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg. His wife, Catherine's mother, also Catherine, was considered a strict Catholic with close ties to her Brunswick relatives, which prompted Gustav I to marry her daughter to dissuade the German Catholic princes from supporting King Christian II of Denmark. Catherine's mother was also respected by the Emperor and the Jagiellons. She was depicted as Saint Catherine in paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop (National Gallery of Denmark, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe), together with Queen Barbara Zapolya (1495-1515) and Barbara Jagiellon (1478-1534), Duchess of Saxony. In 1531, Magnus spread the ideas of the Reformation in his duchy and became a Lutheran, like most of his subjects. For these reasons, their daughter could not be brought up as a Protestant, as some sources claim, and possibly converted to Lutheranism in Sweden.

The marriage with Gustav Vasa was described as unhappy. In older Swedish historiography, Catherine is described as capricious, cold-hearted, and constantly complaining about all things Swedish. She had never learned the Swedish language either. Gustav himself only learned a little German, which made communication between the spouses very difficult. However, she fulfilled her dynastic duty and bore her husband a male heir to the throne named Eric, later Eric XIV, born on December 13, 1533. The first tutor of a young prince was a learned German, Georg Norman from Rügen.

During a ball given in Stockholm in September 1535 in honor of her brother-in-law Christian III of Denmark, when Catherine was probably pregnant, the queen fell so badly while dancing with Christian that she became bedridden. She died the day before her 22nd birthday with her unborn child. Rumors claimed that Gustav murdered Catherine by hitting her on the head with an ax, after he learned from a spy that she had slandered him in front of the Danish king during the dance.

Catherine was first buried in the Storkyrkan in Stockholm on October 1, 1535, and her body was moved in 1560 to Uppsala, where she was buried in the Cathedral along with Gustav and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud (1516-1551). Her effigy on the sarcophagus, carved by the Flemish painter and sculptor Willem Boy, is considered the most faithful, however the statue was created around 1571 in Flanders and sent to Sweden.

In traditional historiography, Catherine has often been portrayed negatively as a contrast to Gustav's second wife, Margaret, a Swedish noblewoman, who has been presented as an ideal queen. The king married Margaret, on 1 October 1536, a year after Catherine's death. It is likely that she was a maid of honor to Gustav Vasa's first queen. Several portraits of Margaret survived, including the full-length effigy, attributed to the Dutch painter Johan Baptista van Uther, in which she was portrayed stereotypically for northern monarchs in rich costume and wearing crown jewels (Gripsholm Castle, NMGrh 434). The realism of this effigy suggests that it could be created in her lifetime, the author could be different and like the triple sarcophagus of Catherine, Gustav and Margaret it could be created in Flanders and sent to Sweden.

No painted effigy of Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, made during her lifetime, is known. The portraits that have sometimes been identified as her likenesses are most likely portraits of Polish-Lithuanian noblewomen from the late 16th century (Gripsholm Castle, NMGrh 427, NMGrh 426).

In 2013 a small portrait miniature of a lady in guise of naked Roman matron Lucretia was sold in London (oil on panel, 14.9 cm, tondo, Sotheby's, December 4, 2013, Lot 3). "Works such as this, most notably the portraits, seem to have been among the earliest German paintings to adapt the format of Renaissance medals or plaquettes", according to Catalogue Note. The painting most likely comes from the collection of the Dukes of Parma in northern Italy or Rome and later it was in the collection of Count Grigory Sergeievich Stroganoff (1829-1910) in Rome, Paris and Saint Petersburg. This provenance from the ducal collection in Italy suggests that the woman was an important international figure. Interestingly, the same woman, although dressed, is seen in a painting from the so-called Gripsholm suite or the triumphal paintings of Gustav Vasa, standing next to a man identified to represent the king himself. The paintings were probably commissioned by king Gustav or his wife to decorate one of the halls at Gripsholm Castle. The cycle is attributed to the local Swedish painter Anders Larsson, who in 1548 executed decorative paintings at Gripsholm Castle, but some undeniable influences from Cranch's works can be listed. This is particularly noticeable in the composition of the scenes and costumes, and the scene of a judgment with a woman falling to the ground supported by a man recalls the fable of the Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verità) by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, dated '1534' (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Gm1108) and especially the version of this composition from the Schloss Neuhardenberg from about 1530. Consequently, the authorship of Cranach's studio cannot be ruled out, also because the whole cycle is known from 18th century watercolors, created in 1722 by Jacob Wendelius (Royal Library in Stockholm), as the original paintings not preserved. Additionally, many authors compare the scenes to works from Wittenberg's workshop.

Interpretations of the paintings' motif have long been debated. Some authors thought it was an allegorical depiction of the king's war of liberation against the Danes in 1521-1523 and the woman is a symbol of the Catholic Church - Ecclesia. The story of Virginia and Appius Claudius, Karin Månsdotter and Eric XIV, Catherine Jagiellon, when Eric was planning to extradite her to Moscow were also suggested and that they were not paintings, but tapestries. The interpretation that the cycle was textiles does not exclude the authorship of Cranach's workshop because, like the Flemish painters, they produced cartoons for tapestries. Nicolaus "the Black" Radziwill had a tapestry after Lucas Cranach's "Baptism of Christ in Jordan", which he orders to hang in the hall of his palace for royal reception in 1553 (after "Lietuvos sakralinė dailė ..." by Dalia Tarandaitė, ‎Gražina Marija Martinaitienė, p. 123) and the so-called Croy tapestry, commissioned by Philip I of Pomerania and created by Peter Heymans in 1554 (Pommersches Landesmuseum), was most likely based on a cartoon by Cranach's studio.

In his 2019 article ("Gripsholmstavlorna ..."), Herman Bengtsson suggested that "it is not unlikely that the paintings depicted the legend of Lucretia, which was very popular and widespread in Northern Europe during the early Renaissance", with reference to the inventories drawn up in the 1540s and 1550s. However, the suicide scene is missing. The inventory of Gripsholm Castle in 1547-1548 mentions a small painting with "Luchresia" in the wife's chamber and inventory of the Norrby royal estate in 1554 lists four large new paintings with scenes from Lucretia's story. According to Peter Gillgren ("Wendelius' Drawings ...", 2021) the cycle depict the biblical story of Esther and Ahasuerus and the paintings (or tapestries) were produced in Poland in the 1540s and could have come with Catherine Jagiellon. At the Turku Castle in Finland in 1563 there was "an old piece with the story of Hestrijdz", which Catherine most probably brought with her from Poland because it is not listed in inventories from previous periods. Another proposal is that the cycle originally belonged to Gustav Vasa's first wife, Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, who evidently brought several lavish art objects with her to her new homeland (after "Gripsholmstavlorna ..." by Herman Bengtsson, p. 55).

What is indisputable is the influence of the works of Cranach, costumes from the 1530s or 1540s and the predominant role of a woman. Her golden dress suggests she was a queen and the biblical or mythological disguise implies that she wants to emphasize her virtues.

If we assume that this woman is Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, then the residence in the miniature from the collection of the Dukes of Parma should be her palace. The building on the left almost perfectly matches the large manor house (Stora borggården towards the east) of the Tre Kronor Castle in Stockholm, as depicted in a print from about 1670 by Jean Marot - Arcis Holmensis Area versus Orientem. Two windows and a rounded door are almost identical. The medieval castle was rebuilt and extended after 1527. During the reign of John III, the structure was rebuilt again by Dutch architects who made larger windows and built the castle church. Catholic chapel of John III's consort, Catherine Jagiellon, was installed in the northeast tower. Tre Kronor was destroyed in the fire of 1697, and the current Stockholm Palace was later built on the site.

The same woman in a similar pose was depicted in another painting of Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder, today in the Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki (oil and tempera on panel, 38 x 24.5 cm, inventory number S-1994-224). At the end of the 18th century it was possibly in a private collection in Finland. The painting is signed with artist's insignia (winged serpent) and dated '1530' on the left. Catherine was married to Gustav Vasa in 1531, however, preparation for such an important event as the royal wedding took time, which is why the marriage contract was most likely signed at least a year earlier. Although many items for the bride's dowry were collected throughout her young life, the more exquisite clothing, jewelry, and items fit for a queen must have been prepared and ordered shortly before the wedding.

The trained eye will spot in the form of the castle on a fantastic rock behind her the building important for the history of Finland - Turku Castle viewed from the harbour. It was founded in the 1280s as an administrative castle of the Swedish crown. The castle's heyday was in the 1560s during the reign of Duke John of Finland (future John III) and Catherine Jagellon. As in the virtual reconstruction of the castle between 1505-1555, we can see two main towers and the main residential building on the left. Like the portrayed person, Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg in the guise of Lucretia, the castle is also disguised, so this is probably not an exact appearance of the structure in 1530, however no view of the castle from that time has survived, so we cannot rule out that the tower originally had such a tall Nordic-style spire. Renaissance painters, especially in Italy, loved such riddles. The viewer must therefore strain his mind and find the true meaning. The "obvious things" were sometimes not so obvious, such as that Leonardo's Mona Lisa was probably not a woman and Raphael's Young Man from the Czartoryski collection was probably not a man.

This painting was created for purely propaganda purposes. In the 1530s, Gustav Vasa started to bring in German officials, along with whom new visions of royal power arrived. In 1544, the monarchy was changed to hereditary and Gustav's eldest son Eric was named heir to the throne. So this painting is like a message: look my subjects, you will have a beautiful and virtuous queen, like the Roman Lucretia. She is healthy and will bear healthy sons. Our monarchy will modernize and the most famous German painting workshop created the effigy of your future queen.

Another similar Lucretia by Cranach dated '1532' is in Vienna (oil on panel, 37.5 x 24.5 cm, Academy of Fine Arts, GG 557). It comes from the collection of an Austrian diplomat and art collector, Anton Franz de Paula Graf Lamberg-Sprinzenstein (1740-1822), who spent six years in Naples where he collected over 500 ancient Greek vases. In 1818, after retiring from the diplomatic service, he bequeathed to the Academy of Vienna his entire painting collection, including works by Titian and Rembrandt. We cannot exclude the possibility that this painting comes from the collection of Queen Bona Sforza, whose collections were moved to Naples after her death in Bari in 1557.

In all mentioned paintings, the model's face resembles the effigy of Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg from her tomb in Uppsala Cathedral, as well as effigies of her only son Eric XIV by the Flemish painter Domenicus Verwilt. The Duchess of Saxony Barbara Jagiellon was depicted as Lucretia and the majority of Gustav's potential wives - Hedwig Jagiellon, Anna of Pomerania and Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin were depicted as nude Venus in Cranach's paintings. The Queen of Sweden followed the same fashion of mythological disguise in her portraits.

Portrait of Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg (1513-1535), Queen of Sweden as Lucretia against the idealized view of Turku Castle by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530, Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki.

Miniature portrait of Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg (1513-1535), Queen of Sweden as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530-1535, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg (1513-1535), Queen of Sweden as Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1532, Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.

Portraits of Catherine Telegdi, Voivodess of Transylvania by wokshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder and Venetian painters

On March 17, 1534 died Stephen VIII Bathory (born 1477), Voivode of Transylvania leaving his 42 years-old wife Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547) with the youngest of her children, including Stephen, future king of Poland, born in 1533, Christopher, born in 1530, and most probably the youngest daughter Elizabeth, later wife of Lajos Pekry de Petrovina, in the turbulent period following the Ottoman invasion of Hungary.

Catherine was a daughter of royal treasurer Stephen Telegdi (or Thelegdy de Telegd) and his wife Margit Bebek de Pelsőcz. She married Stephen of the Somlyó branch of the Bathory family before October 13, 1516. They had four sons and four daughters and their last child, Stephen was born on September 27, 1533 just few months before his father's death. His parents ordered to built a small church in honor of the Virgin Mary at the time of his birth. Catherine resided in the Bathorys' castle at Somlyó, also known as Szilágysomlyó (now Șimleu Silvaniei in Romania) managing her deceased husband's estates on behalf of minor children. In 1536 she signed an agreement with János Statileo, Latinized as Statilius (d. 1542), Bishop of Transylvania (in 1521 King Louis II sent him to Venice), according to which the named widow's estates in Daróczi, Gyresi (Gyrüsi) and Gyengi (Gyérgyi) in Szathmár county, will be returned to her.

Later Tamás Nádasdy (1498-1562), Ban of Croatia-Slavonia and his older brother Andrew VII Bathory (d. 1563) took charge of Christopher's education, while Pál Várday (1483-1549), Archbishop of Esztergom was entrusted with custody of Stephen, who in the 1540s was also educated at the court of Ferdinand I in Vienna.

On November 1, 1534 George Martinuzzi (Frater Georgius), a Croatian nobleman and Pauline monk, born in Kamičak in the Republic of Venice, was made Bishop of nearby great fortress Varadinum (now Oradea), one of the most important in the Kingdom of Hungary. The cathedral in Varadinum was the burial place of kings, including Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary, Queen Mary of Anjou and Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg. He was also appointed treasurer, one of the country's most important officials, by King John Zapolya, when previous treasurer and governor of Hungary Alvise Gritti, natural son of Andrea Gritti, Doge of Venice, was murdered in September 1534. Before entering the service of King of Hungary in 1527, Martinuzzi was most probably Abbot of the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa. He was the "author of marriage" (author matrimonii) of Princess Isabella Jagiellon (according to letter of Queen Bona from 1542, in which she asks him to take care of her daughter), organized together with Jan Amor Tarnowski, voivode of Kraków. After he returned to Hungary in 1527, he was appointed abbot of the Pauline monastery in Sajólád, which had recently received grants from the Zapolyas.

On September 16, 1539 Catherine Telegdi's daughter Anna Bathory, mother of the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Bathory, married Kasper Dragfi of Béltek.

Single woman with small children amidst ongoing war undoubtedly wanted to get married or at least find a protector and the most powerful man who could help her was Bishop of Varadinum. If Queen Bona and Tarnowski family in nearby Poland-Lithuania and king Ferdinand I could commission their effigies in Cranach's workshop and in Venice, the same could the voivodess of Transylvania and Martinuzzi.

Madonna and Child with grapes by Lucas Cranach the Elder, which was before 1932 in the collection of Julius Drey in Munich (panel, 50 x 33.5 cm), is inscribed in upper right corner with artist's insignia and dated "1534". The same woman was also depicted as Venus with Cupid stealing honey, which was in the Bryan Gallery of Christian Art in New York in 1853 (oil on panel, 48.9 x 33 cm, Sotheby's New York, January 12, 1995, lot 151) and as Charity, according to inscription in upper left corner (CHARITAS), in a painting in the National Gallery in London (oil on panel, 56.3 x 36.2 cm, inv. NG2925), which was once in the collection of Sir George Webbe Dasent (1817-1896), a British translator who was appointed secretary to Thomas Cartwright on a diplomatic post in Stockholm, Sweden. Charity or love (Latin Caritas), "the mother of all virtues", according to Hilary of Arles (Hilarius), refers to "love of God", although the image refers more to maternity and effigies of Roman goddess of motherhood Latona.

The woman was also depicted in a portrait which was attributed to Palma Vecchio, Giovanni Cariani and currently to Bernardino Licinio in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice (oil on canvas, 47 x 45 cm, inv. 305). She wears a black dress of a widow and a black headdress or a toque, called balzo, embroidered with gold. This painting, like the effigy of Jan Janusz Kościelecki by Giovanni Cariani, was transferred from the Contarini collection in Venice (bequeathed by Girolamo Contarini) in 1838. It might be a modello to a series of portraits or a gift to the Venetian Serenissima. Probably in the 19th century this effigy was repainted and the characteristic features of the woman were changed to more "classical" features, these changes were recently removed.

Cariani used her effigy in his Judith with the head of Holofernes from a private collection in England, sold in Cologne in 2020 (oil on panel, 96.5 x 78 cm, Lempertz, May 30, 2020, lot 2008). She holds one arm on a plinth on which the words "For liberating the country" (PRO LIBERANDA / PATRIA) are written. Behind her head we see the green foliage of a laurel symbolizing the victory of the biblical heroine. This painting is variably dated between 1517 and 1523, although it is possible that it was created after the Battle of Mohács in 1526, when Catherine's husband supported John Zapolya's claim to the kingship of Hungary against the Habsburgs and Turks conquered a large part of the country. In this context, the Latin inscription would have an important political significance.

In a painting attributed to Palma Vecchio, although also close to the style of Giovanni Cariani, from the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden in Rome, today in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (oil on canvas, 118.1 x 208.9 cm, inv. 109), she is represented as Venus in a landscape with Cupid handing her an arrow aimed at her heart. The city behind her with a fortress atop a hill match perfectly the layout of Varadinum. Cariani is sometimes considered a pupil of Palma Vecchio, as many of his works show Palma's influence and have also been attributed to him. A more simplified copy of this effigy, in the style of Bernardino Licinio, comes from the collection of Princess Labadini in Milan (oil on canvas, 112 x 165 cm, Lempertz in Cologne, Auction 1175, June 5, 2021, lot 2019).

The painting in Cambridge is usually dated to around 1523-1524. Shortly after the painter created another portrait of this woman, usually dated to around 1524-1526, now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (oil on panel, 75.9 x 59.7 cm, inv. 197 B), showing her with naked breast. This painting was purchased in 1884/85 from the painter and art dealer Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919). There are several copies of this effigy, some of which are attributed to Palma, such as the version from the Manfrin collection in Venice (oil on canvas, 78.7 x 61.6 cm, Christie's New York, June 9, 2010, lot 241), which is however closer to Cariani's works. In a copy from a private collection in France (oil on canvas, 79 x 62 cm), which is closer to the style of Bernardino Licinio, the color of the woman's hair has been changed from blond to red.

She was also depicted as Saint Catherine in a painting of Sacra Conversazione with Madonna and Child and a holy bishop, attributed to Palma Vecchio (oil on panel, 53.7 x 80.7 cm, Sotheby's London, December 6, 2012, lot 161). This painting was probably acquired by Archibald Campbell Douglas Dick (d. 1927), Pitkerro House, Dundee, in the early 20th century. A similar compostion with Saints Jerome and Helena at Pinacoteca dell'Accademia dei Concordi in Rovigo is attributed to workshop of Palma (compare Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda: 41606) and generally dated to the 2nd decade of the 16th century. The bishop holding the palm branch, a symbol of martyrdom, could be a portrait of George Martinuzzi.

Very similar effigy by Palma Vecchio shows her younger and wearing a green dress, a symbol of her fertility. She is probably opening a jewellery box, a symbol of femininity, beauty and wealth. This painting, today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (oil on panel, 50 x 40.5 cm, inv. GG 66), was in the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and was recorded in the Theatrum Pictorium (number 196). Before 1636, this painting or a copy of it was probably in the collection of a Venetian art dealer and collector, Bartolomeo della Nave, who owned a painting described as "A woman half a figure very fair with a box in her hand p 3 x 2 1/2 idem [Palma]". A study drawing for this or a similar painting, attributed to the circle of Palma Vecchio, was auctioned in New York in 2002 (black chalk on paper, 20 x 18.7 cm, Christie's, June 5, 2002, lot 675).

Since the time of King Matthias Corvinus (1443-1490), who married Beatrice of Naples (1457-1508), the links between Hungary and Italy in terms of artistic patronage were important, although they can be traced back much earlier. In the Museo Nicolaiano in Bari there is a silver reliquary of Saint Nicholas in the form of a Gothic church from 1344, founded by Elizabeth of Poland (1305-1380), Queen of Hungary, adorned with her coat of arms. The reliquary is attributed to Pietro di Simone Gallico from Siena. In 1502, Angelo Gabrieli, a Venetian patrician, recorded the triumphant progress through northern Italy of Anne of Foix-Candale (1484-1506), the bride of Vladislaus II Jagiellon, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia, who entered Padua on her way to Venice. The presence of German communities in Transylvania facilitated economic relations with Germany. In the 16th century, Hungary and Transylvania exported livestock to Germany and Venice and imported luxury goods from both countries (compare "The Sixteenth Century", edited by Euan K. Cameron, p. 27 and "Hungary Between Two Empires 1526-1711" by Géza Pálffy, p. 76).

Between the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century, the Hungarian sovereign had entrusted the administration of the salt mines as well as the mint of Sibiu to Matteo Baldi, resident in Sibiu in Transylvania, while between 1439 and 1448, a certain Papia Manin from Florence took care of the collection of taxes on behalf of the King of Hungary. Many other Italians had lived in Hungary and Transylvania since the Middle Ages. In 1520, Vincenzo Italus residing in Brașov bought cattle from the Moldavian Drăghici, while a year later in 1521, Michele Italus was present in the same city in Transylvania. In 1535, a certain Giovanni Dylansy Italus maintained relations between Brașov and Wallachia. In the 16th century, there were master glassmakers in Transylvania, almost certainly from Venice, active in the glassworks near Braşov, such as Alessandro Morosini (confirmed between 1573-1574), who was commissioned by Stephen Bathory, Catherine's son, to produce glass in collaboration with local craftsmen, according to Italian models. There were also Florentine cloth makers and dyers, such as Stefano di Pietro, active in the city of Sibiu at the end of the 16th century, as well as architects (after "Italici in Transilvania tra XIV e XVI secolo" by Andrea Fara, p. 338, 339, 347-348). No painter is mentioned, indicating that the majority of the paintings were imported from Italy, since the hypothesis that the Italians living in Hungary and Transylvania forgot that their homeland was famous for the most splendid Renaissance painters would be unfounded.

Given the number of her effigies, the woman in the paintings described must have been an important figure in Europe in the first half of the 16th century. However, no documents preserve the name of this "Venetian beauty", which is another indication that she was neither Venetian nor German (regarding Cranach's paintings), but "an oriental beauty". There is also no evidence that she was a courtesan, as is generally believed for such effigies.

In all mentioned portraits woman's face bears a great resemblance to effigies of Catherine Telegdi's son Stephen Bathory, elected monarach of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Study drawing for a portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania by circle of Palma Vecchio, ca. 1516-1528, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania in a green dress by Palma Vecchio, ca. 1516-1528, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania from the Theatrum Pictorium (196) by Lucas Vorsterman the Elder after Palma Vecchio, 1660, Princely Court Library in Waldeck.

Sacra Conversazione with a portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania as Saint Catherine by workshop of Palma Vecchio, after 1516, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania as Venus and Cupid against the idealized view of Varadinum by Palma Vecchio or Giovanni Cariani, ca. 1523-1534, Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania nude (Venus) by Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1523-1534, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania with a breast uncovered by Palma Vecchio, ca. 1524-1526, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania with a breast uncovered by Giovanni Cariani, after 1524, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania with a breast uncovered by Bernardino Licinio, after 1524, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania as Judith with the Head of Holofernes by Giovanni Cariani, after 1526, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania as Madonna and Child with grapes by wokshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1534, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania as Venus with Cupid stealing honey by wokshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1534, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania as Caritas by wokshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1534, National Gallery in London.

Portrait of Catherine Telegdi (1492-1547), Voivodess of Transylvania in a black balzo by Bernardino Licinio, ca. 1534, Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.

Portraits of Catherine de' Medici by Giovanni Cariani

"The Queen became all-powerful, and took all seriousness from her husband and other dignitaries, so that she plays a role similar to the Queen regent in France", wrote from Kraków on March 10, 1532 Ercole Daissoli, the secretary of Hieronim Łaski, about Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland (after "Królowa Bona ..." by Władysław Pociecha, p. 132).

Around that time another eminent woman of the Renaissance, Catherine de' Medici, future Queen of France was engaged to Henry, duke of Orleans. Orphaned at birth, she was brought from Florence to Rome by her father's uncle Pope Leo X. The next Pope and Catherine's uncle Clement VII, allowed her to return to Florence and to reside in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi. The Pope entered into an alliance with France, Venice, Florence and England to limit the influence of Emperor Charles V in Italy, but the French defeat in the battle of Pavia exposed the Papal States to imperial revenge, which culminated in the sack of Rome in 1527. The defeat suffered by Clement VII in Rome also led to riots in Florence. In return for his help in retaking the city the Pope promised Charles V that he would be crowned emperor. On the occasion of Emperor's coronation in Bologna in 1530 a medal was struck to model by Giovanni Bernardi.

Catherine returned to the papal court in Rome, where Clement VII attempted to arrange an advantageous marriage for her. He managed to combine two important marriages: that of Catherine with the son of the king of France and that of Alessandro, nicknamed il Moro (appointed Duke of Florence) with Margaret of Austria, the illegitimate daughter of Charles V. Thirteen-year-old Catherine began to learn French. Venetian ambassador, Antonio Soriano, described her physical appearance at that time: "she is small of stature, and thin, and without delicate features, but having the protruding eyes peculiar to the Medici family". On 23 October 1533 Catherine arrived in Marseille, where she married the younger son of the French king. The unexpected death of Clement VII on 25 September 1534, almost a year after the wedding, affected the alliance between the papacy and France. Pope Paul III, whose election was backed by Emperor Charles V, broke the alliance and refused to pay the enormous dowry promised to Catherine. King Francis I of France, Catherine's father-in-law, was later attributed the bitter affirmation: "I received the girl stark naked" (J'ai reçu la fille toute nue).

The portrait of a lady called "Violante", identified as Allegory of Virginity and attributed to Palma Vecchio and Giovanni Cariani is known from several versions. One was in the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and was recorded in the Theatrum Pictorium (number 185). This painting was most probably cut and might be tantamount to the painting in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (oil on canvas, 64.5 x 60 cm, inv. 84). Other are in Galleria Estense in Modena (oil on canvas, 89.5 x 65 cm, inv. R.C.G.E. 409), centred around the collection of the d'Este family, rulers of Modena, Ferrara and Reggio (confirmed in the d'Este collections since 1770) and in private collection in Barcelona (oil on canvas, 74.5 x 59 cm), possibly from the Spanish royal collection. The woman was also depicted in similar pose wearing a black mourning dress in another paining in Budapest (oil on canvas, 93.5 x 76 cm, inv. 109).

The majority of these paintings are now attributed to Cariani, who, due to similarities with Palma Vecchio's style, probably cooperated with him or was his student. "Violante" has also been represented as the work of I. Palma Senior in Theatrum Pictorium, although neither of these paintings is signed and there is no evidence that the painting in the Habsburg collection was signed by Palma. The portrait in a black dress in Budapest is attributed to the Venetian painter and dated to around 1540, while other paintings are considered to date from the 1510s, although none of the copies are also dated. A good copy that was in a private collection in the early 20th century is considered to have been created between around 1520 and 1540 (compare Fototeca Zeri, Numero scheda 39748).

Facial features and hand gesture of the woman are almost identical with another effigy in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, the portrait of young Catherine de' Medici, bearing later inscription in French: CATERINE DE MEDICIS REINE DE FRANCE in lower part and [...] ROINE MERE ("The Queen Mother") in upper part (oil on panel, 31.3 x 23 cm, inv. 58.4). The omnipresent V in these portraits is therefore reference to the powerful Emperor Charles V, whose actions had great impact on the life of Catherine.

A painting by Italian painter, possibly Pier Francesco Foschi, from private collection in Switzerland is very similar to the portrait with inscription in Budapest (oil on panel, 20 x 18 cm, Darnley Fine Art in London, as "European School, Portrait of a Lady, Mid 16th Century"). She wears a golden pendant with monogram of her husband H, future Henry II of France. A similar gold pendant is found in a series of portraits of Catherine by Corneille de Lyon and his circle, such as the painting from the Czartoryski collection in Gołuchów, which was lost during the Second World War (oil on panel, 22 x 18 cm). This painting was made in several copies, the best of which are in Polesden Lacey in England (inv. NT 1246458), at the Palace of Versailles (inv. MV 3182, formerly identified as representing Marguerite de France) and at the Musée Condé in Chantilly (inv. PE 248, formerly assumed to represent Claude de France according to the inscription on the reverse, then Marie d'Acigny). Another version of this portrait from the Medici collection in Florence is in the Uffizi Gallery (inv. 1890 / 2257). It was previously attributed to Corneille de Lyon, then to the French school and today to Santi di Tito (1536-1603), who, according to the payment documents of March 9, 1585 and July 15, 1586, painted it more than 40 years after the original painting was completed, so he must have based it on earlier effigies. A similar effigy of the future Queen of France from the Lubomirski collection is in the National Art Gallery in Lviv (oil on panel, 57.8 x 43.8, inv. Ж-1974). It is attributed to the Italian school of the 17th century and bears the inscription in the upper part: ‣ CATERINA ‣ MEDICI. The style of this painting, however, indicates Flemish influences and it closely resembles works attributed to Bartholomeus Pons, also known as the Master of the Dinteville Allegory because of his best-known painting, the portrait of Gaucher de Dinteville, lord of Vanlay, and his brothers represented as "Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh" (Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 50.70), painted in 1537.

In 1909 in the collection of Prince Kazimierz Lubomirski in Kraków there was a Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (oil on canvas, 89 x 71 cm), attributed to "The School of Paul Veronese (1528-1588)" (after "Katalog wystawy obrazów malarzy dawnych i współczesnych urządzonej staraniem Andrzejowej Księżny Lubomirskiej" by Mieczysław Treter, item 69, p. 17).

The distribution of these paintings and the number of copies also suggest that this woman was an important personality in Europe in the first half of the 16th century. Three portraits from the earliest period of the famous French queen's life can be found in Budapest, Hungary, others also outside France. Like Queen Bona, Catherine de' Medici is today best known for her portraits from the later period of her life, but before 1559 she was not a widow and like other Italian women she had undoubtedly lightened her hair.

Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) by Giovanni Cariani, ca. 1532-1534, Galleria Estense in Modena.

Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) by Giovanni Cariani, ca. 1532-1534, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) by Giovanni Cariani, ca. 1532-1534, Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) by Giovanni Cariani or workshop, ca. 1532-1534, Private collection. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) from the Theatrum Pictorium (185) by Jan van Troyen, 1673, Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava.

Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) in mourning by Giovanni Cariani, ca. 1534, Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) by Italian painter, possibly Pier Francesco Foschi, ca. 1533-1540, Private collection.

Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) by Italian painter (?), ca. 1533-1540, Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) by Corneille de Lyon or circle, ca. 1540, Gołuchów Castle, lost. Virtual reconstruction, © Marcin Latka

Portrait of Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) by Bartholomeus Pons, ca. 1540, Lviv National Art Gallery.

Portrait of Stefan Loitz by Barthel Bruyn the Elder

In 1528 and 1539, two members of the Loitz merchant and banking family, Michael II (1501-1561) and Simon I (1502-1567), sons of Hans II (ca. 1470-1539) and Anna Glienicke (1480-1551), moved from Szczecin in the Duchy of Pomerania to Gdańsk in Polish Prussia, the main port of Sarmatia, after marrying into members of the Feldstete (Feldstedt) family. The Loitz (also Loitze, Loytz, Loytze, Lois, Loisius, Lojsen, Lewsze or Łozica in Polish), sometimes called the "Fuggers of the North" because of their wealth, were originally from Greifswald. They started their business as fishmongers and tried to dominate the salt trade in Central Europe. Hans Loitz II also became mayor of Szczecin and developed Loitz's business internationally. He established numerous contacts with merchants in Sweden, Transylvania, France and Central European countries and even on the Iberian Peninsula. He managed to develop the company into a group with an attached bank, whose debtors were the Dukes of Pomerania, Elector of Brandenburg Joachim II and the King of Poland. The Loitz Bank made large profits by financing wars. During the Livonian War (1558-1583), for example, they set up a fleet of privateer ships in Gdańsk for Poland. Michael II's wife, Cordula Feldstedt, was the great-granddaughter of Lucas Watzenrode the Elder (1400-1462), the maternal grandfather of Nicolaus Copernicus and the Sarmatian astronomer, as Philip Melanchthon called him in 1541, criticizing his "absurd claims" (Sed quidam putant esse egregium κατόρθωμα rem tam absurdam ornare, sicut ille Sarmaticus Astronomus, qui movet terram et figit Solem. Profecto sapientes gubernatores deberent ingeniorum petulantiam cohercere, after Corpus Reformatorum, Volume IV, Epistolarum Lib. VIII 1541, No. 2391), was involved in different family relationships with Michael II. In 1536, Michael, representing Copernicus, appeared before the Council of Gdańsk as curator of the heirs of the deceased Reinhold Feldstete. In a document dated September 15, 1540, preserved in the Vatican archives, Copernicus spoke in favour of appointing Michael's son Johann Loitz (Jan Lewsze), a cleric from Włocławek, as coadjutor (assistant) of his Warmian canonry. Interestingly, Hans II is remembered as great opponent of the Reformation.

Hans II's third son Stefan (Steffen, Stephan, 1507-1584) tried to take over the Lüneburg salt trade. Nevertheless, the Lüneburg salt merchants managed to defend themselves against these attempts. However, the Loitzes managed to monopolize the salt trade on the Odra and in the port of Gdańsk, which was vigorously defended if necessary by a gunboat in the port. Another important activity was the trade in Pomeranian grain, which they exported mainly to Western Europe.

Although the decline and bankruptcy of the House of Loitz is sometimes attributed primarily to the refusal of King Stephen Batory to pay the debts of his predecessor Sigismund II Augustus, it was preceded by several other unfavourable factors, such as the increase in the Sound customs duties in 1567 by Denmark, the general economic crisis, the trade deficit with Silesia, and the death in 1571 of Joachim II of Brandenburg, who also had heavy debts to the Loitz family. From 1537 onwards, the Loitzes acted as financial representatives of the Elector of Brandenburg, and in 1544 they officially held the position of bankers and suppliers to the court. The debtors of the Loitzes also included Duke John Albert I of Mecklenburg (1525-1576) and the sons of Sophia Jagiellon (1464-1512): Albert of Prussia (1490-1568) and William of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1498-1563), Archbishop of Riga. They also granted numerous loans to the King of Denmark. Almost all of these rulers ignored the Loitzes' demands for repayment in the same way. Their fall ruined many creditors, landowners and wealthy people of Szczecin, so much so that the family moved to Polish Prussia. Their splendid late Gothic house in Szczecin, known as the Loitzenhaus, built between 1539 and 1547 and decorated with the relief The Conversion of Saul by the workshop of Hans Schenck, was taken over by the Dukes of Pomerania.

In addition to the salt trade and banking, the family was also engaged in a lucrative trade and import of works of art, mainly from the Netherlands and Germany, and financed the artistic ventures of the King of Poland and the courts of Szczecin, Berlin and Królewiec (Königsberg). Research suggests that they were extensively involved in the import of alabaster reliefs from the Netherlands, and it is possible that the Gdańsk bankers may have acted as intermediaries in bringing an alabaster altar from the Habsburg Netherlands to the church in Uchanie on behalf of Primate Jakub Uchański (1502-1581). Hans II established commercial contacts with Dutch merchants as early as 1495. Later, the company's representative in Antwerp was Melchior Adeler from Wrocław. The purchase of the famous series of tapestries History of the First Parents, based on the cartoons of Michiel Coxie (made between 1549 and 1550), by King Sigismund Augustus, was to be financed by a loan obtained from the Loitz family (after "Wewnętrzne światło ..." by Aleksandra Lipińska, p. 96, 97). The family credited the king several times with large sums for the needs of the Polish state and for the king's private needs, such as 60,000 thalers for the purchase of jewelry, which Sigismund Augustus was particularly fond of. The loan was repaid by deliveries of salt from the royal salt mines. The Loitz family also had a royal crown set with emeralds made for Sigismund Augustus. In 1572, they granted the king a huge loan of 300,000 thalers. In a letter dated February 22, 1546, the painter Hans Krell names one of the Loitzes as an intermediary in the transfer of portraits of European sovereigns commissioned by Duke Albert of Prussia to Saxony (perhaps the portraits commissioned by the Duke for his cousin Sigismund Augustus and brought to Vilnius by Piotr Wojanowski in February 1547). A few years later, after 1555, Krell made a portrait of Maurice (1521-1553), Elector of Saxony, which was sent to the sculptor Antonis de Seron (van Zerroen) in Antwerp as a model for the statue of the Elector in a monument in Freiberg Cathedral, built between 1559 and 1563, after a design by the Italian painters Gabriele and Benedetto Thola from Brescia, which shows how international artistic endeavours were at that time.

The Loitzes are also credited with the settlement of Dutch Mennonites in the Vistula lowlands in the second half of the 16th century. Hans IV (1529-1579), Simon and Stefan owned Nowy Dwór Gdański (Tiegenhof) as collateral for a loan to the Polish king. In 1562, with the help of Hans IV' wife Esther von Baasen (Baysen, Bażyńska), they persuaded the Dutch Mennonites to settle there (after "A Homeland for Strangers …" by Peter James Klassen p. 28).

The aforementioned Stefan Loitz even became secretary to King Sigismund Augustus and was ennobled in Sarmatia with his own coat of arms. Together with his younger brother Hans III (1510-1575) and mother, he ran the Szczecin business. In 1557, that is, at the age of fifty, he married the widow Beata von Dessel (1529-1568), heiress to the rich salt mines in Lüneburg. The Lüneburg salt, which Stefan was able to sell in large quantities, was characterised by very good quality and was competitive with French salt. The Loitz family received distribution privileges for Lüneburg salt from the Elector of Brandenburg, Emperor and King Sigismund Augustus. In exchange for a loan of 30,000 złoty, the latter granted Stefan the privilege of building a saltworks in Toruń, located on the Vistula, and also entrusted him with the management of the salt chambers (warehouses) in Toruń and Bydgoszcz (after "Dzieje Bydgoszczy do roku 1806" by Franciszek Mincer, p. 128). Stefan was a member of the Maritime Commission, the first Polish admiralty existing in the years 1568-1572.

The 16th-century inventories, mainly made before 1575, which were in the Gdańsk State Archives before World War II, as well as the inventories in the Lüneburg City Archives, list the clothing, jewellery and silverware belonging to the Loitz family. From his marriage to Beata von Dassel, a daughter was born, also named Beata (1562-1616). On October 27, 1568, the father bought his six-year-old daughter a bracelet, and on March 29, 1570, he also bought a small spinning wheel as a useful toy. In 1591 she married Hartwig von Witzendorff (1555-1628), and her dowry included many valuable objects, including four small enamelled gold chains from France, a gold bracelet from Paris and a silver belt from Nuremberg. Hans Loitz also purchased silver tableware in Nuremberg, for example in January 1569 two large drinking vessels, two lidded vessels, a small jug and other vessels from the jeweller Pancratius. He brought this gilded silverware, worth 375 florins, to the royal court in Lublin (Dies hat Juncker Hans mit sich an den koniglichen hoff gegen Lublin genommenn). In 1572, Stefan Loitz owned 57 gold rings, most of them set with sapphires, emeralds and other precious stones. Another 38 gold rings were sewn onto velvet as clothing jewelry (after "Danziger und Lüneburger Inventare der Kaufmannsfamilie Loitz ..." by Bettina Schröder‑Bornkampf, p. 254-255, 270-272). Sigismund Augustus' banker clearly shared the monarch's passion for jewellery.

The portraits of the "Fuggers of the North" were undoubtedly as splendid as their Augsburg counterparts. However, the only surviving portrait is that of Michael II and his son Hans IV, kneeling in splendid armour, as donors, in an epitaph from 1561 in St. Mary's Church in Gdańsk. The portraits of the royal bankers were undoubtedly also in Polish collections.

In the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków there is a fine portrait of a man holding gloves and a small red book, attributed to Barthel Bruyn the Elder (1493-1555), a German Renaissance painter active in Cologne (oil on panel, 47.5 x 33.8 cm, inv. MNK XII-236, inscription: ANNO DNI. 1537. / ÆTATIS SVE . 30 :). Barthel was probably the son of a painter Bruyn, who was working in Haarlem in 1490. He received his training from his brother-in-law Jan Joest van Calcar (died 1519), during which time he became friends with the painter Joos van Cleve, who had a lasting influence on his painting style. Bruyn may have worked with Jan Joest in Haarlem and Werden before moving to Cologne in 1512. In addition to his religious works, Bruyn was also a good portrait painter. Although his models are considered to be the inhabitants of Cologne and the surrounding area, he also painted the portrait of Cardinal Bernardo Clesio (1484-1539), Bishop of Trent, one of the major political figures of the early 16th century, preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. GG 977). The portrait of Clesio is considered to have been made in 1531, while he was in Cologne for the election of Ferdinand I as Roman King. In 1538 Bruyn painted the portraits of Anne of Cleves (1515-1557), her brother William (1516-1592) and sister Amalia (1517-1586). Like Joos van Cleve, who created the altar of St. Reinhold for the Brotherhood of St. Reinhold in Gdańsk (National Museum in Warsaw, inv. M.Ob.2190 MNW), Barthel undoubtedly also created works intended for export. Several of his works have been preserved in Poland, some of which may have reached Sarmatia as early as the 16th century. The most remarkable is the Resurrection of Christ, from around 1534, now in Wawel Castle (oil on panel, 142 x 78.5 cm, inv. ZKWawel 7115), which comes from the collection of Count Leon Piniński (1857-1938) in Lviv. This painting may have been the central panel of a triptych. Also at the Wawel are two wings of the triptych, attributed to Bruyn, depicting Saints Peter and Bartholomew with a male and female donor (oil on panel, 80.9 x 26.4 cm and 80.7 x 26.4 cm, inv. ZKWawel 94 and ZKWawel 95), acquired from the Miączyński-Dzieduszycki Museum in Lviv in 1931. At the National Museum in Warsaw are two more wings of the triptych with the Annunciation (tempera and oil on panel, 67 x 32.5 cm, inv. M.Ob.69 MNW, formerly 102) and Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene (tempera and oil on panel, 67.5 x 32 cm, inv. M.Ob.61 MNW, formerly 103), acquired in 1871 from the Lam collection in Warsaw. The original altarpieces were probably dismantled and partially destroyed during the wars.

The Kraków "Portrait of a Man" was housed in the 19th century in the so-called Gothic House in Puławy, built between 1801 and 1809 for Princess Izabela Czartoryska (1745-1835) to house her collection of art and important Polish memorabilia. Princess Czartoryska had acquired them from various collections in the former territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The 1828 catalogue of this collection (Poczet pamiątek zachowanych w Domu Gotyckim w Puławach) lists Bruyn's painting under the number 290 as "A portrait painted in oil on wood of an unknown person, with the inscription: Anno D. 1537. ætatis suæ 30. And this proves that it is not Rej, as was believed" (Portret malowany olejno, na drzewie, nieznajomej osoby, z napisem: Anno D. 1537. ætatis suæ 30. I to dowodzi, że nie jest to Rej, jak mniemano, p. 30). The painting was probably offered or sold to Czartoryska as an effigy of the Polish poet Mikołaj Rej (1505-1569), however the poet was 32 years old in 1537 and the man in the portrait was 30 years old at that time, just like a wealthy merchant and banker Stefan Loitz, born in 1507, who could potentially be engaged in importing Bruyn's works to Sarmatia.

Portrait of the merchant and banker Stefan Loitz (1507-1584), aged 30, by Barthel Bruyn the Elder, 1537, Czartoryski Museum in Kraków.

The Resurrection of Christ by Barthel Bruyn the Elder, ca. 1534, Wawel Royal Castle.

Comments are closed.

Forgotten portraits of the Dukes of Pomerania, Dukes of Silesia and European monarchs - part I

Categories

Archives