'Madonna under the Fir Tree' The Odyssey of a Stolen Cranach Painting

[Draggingtree]

Spiegel on Line:

'Madonna under the Fir Tree' The Odyssey of a Stolen Cranach Painting

09/07/2012 07.09.2012

 

Decades after it went missing, the famous "Madonna under the Fir Tree" painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder has reappeared under mysterious circumstances and been returned to its home in Poland. But can anyone be sure it isn't just a better fake?

 

 

cranach.net

The "Madonna under the Fir Tree" of Lucas Cranach the Elder.

For more than four centuries, the Madonna with the sweet smile hung in the cathedral of what is now Wroclaw in modern-day Poland. Art historians admire the piece as a gem of Renaissance painting, academics have written about it, and it is adored by locals and visitors alike. The artist who painted "Madonna under the Fir Tree," Lucas Cranach the Elder, gave it to the bishop of what was then Breslau in 1510. Since then, it has been one of the region's major attractions.

However, since possibly as far back as 1946, the picture hanging in the cathedral has been a copy, and it took many years before this was detected. This summer, the original painting surprisingly returned to its country of origin, where the Polish culture minister handed it over to the current bishop of Wroclaw.

Officially, nobody knows where the picture was hidden in the intervening decades. The Catholic Church, which is once again the painting's guardian, says

 

[Valin]

@Draggingtree

 

 

I was thinking this Madonna.

 

Glad I was wrong!

[Draggingtree]

@Draggingtree

 

 

I was thinking this Madonna.

 

Glad I was wrong!