(Wittenberg 1515–1588 Weimar) Head of Judith (fragment of a full-length figure), oil on panel, 19.8 x 16 cm (a more recent 3.7 cm wide addition to lower margin), framed

The panel is illegibly inscribed in an old hand on the reverse. The reverse side of the frame bears a paper label inscribed with the old inventory number 1204. Dr. Dieter Koepplin, Basel, whom we thank for his helpful assistance in the compilation of this entry, confirms this picture to be a work by Lucas Cranach the Younger, executed around 1540–45, “on grounds of painting style and quality” (written communication of 4 July 2009). As a proof he mentions Judith’s wind-blown veil in the present picture, which also appears in works by the father dating from the 1540s. Dr. Koepplin compares our painting with a full-length figure of Judith by Lucas Cranach the Elder numbering among the war losses of the Dresden Picture Gallery (comp. Friedländer/Rosenberg, Lucas Cranach, Basel-Stuttgart 1979, no. 359). We are also grateful to Dr. Werner Schade, Berlin, who was shown a photograph of the present picture. In Dr. Schade’s opinion, the painting originates from the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder.