Two of four miniature watercolour and gouache portraits credited to a follower of Cranach the Elder, $47,500 (£37,300) at Nadeau’s.
Once thought to be 16th century period, they are now dated to the 19th century. Nonetheless, estimated at $3000-5000, they hammered for $47,500 (£37,300) in Windsor, Connecticut.
The subjects, mounted in two carved giltwood frames measuring 8 x 12in (20.5 x 30.5cm), are familiar images from the Cranach oeuvre.
Two of the portraits depicted the reforming theologians Martin Luther and John Calvin and two Johann the Constant and Johann the Steadfast, electors of Saxony and important figures in the early Lutheran church.
Cranach and his workshop produced many formulaic printed and painted portraits of the subjects with whom the artist was well acquainted. However, they were also much copied in the Victorian era.
Two of four miniature watercolour and gouache portraits credited to a follower of Cranach the Elder, $47,500 (£37,300) at Nadeau’s.
Stern words
This quartet (one signed upper right and dated 1543) carried a label to one of the frames for a Christie’s sale of the collection of Lord Michelham – a reference to Herbert Stern, 1st Baron Michelham (1851-1919).
A British financier, philanthropist and a member of the Stern banking family, his spectacular homes in London and Paris were filled with an impressive collection of works of art. As big spenders, Michelham and his wife, Geraldine (1882-1927), enjoyed a privileged relationship with the art dealer Joseph Duveen.
Two contents auctions were held by Christie’s after Michelham’s death: a sale at Strawberry Hill House in May 1926 and another at 20 Arlington Street, London, in November 1926. These pictures could have been part of one of these sales.
