CRANACH, Lucas the Elder
(b. 1472, Kronach, d. 1553, Weimar)

Portrait of a Donatrix

c. 1508
Oil and tempera on oak, 43 x 34 cm
Kunstmuseum, Basel

The two portraits depicting a donor and a donatrix (the latter has been cropped at the bottom) formed the wings of a triptych with a religious subject occupying the lost central panel. The triptych was probably executed in the summer of 1508 when Cranach travelled in the Netherlands. The wings were painted oak, costumary in the Netherlands but relatively rarely found in Cranach's work.