Artist: Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) and workshop
Title: Joshua with the features of Martin Luther
Date: after 1524
School: German, XVIth-century
Medium: woodcut
Dimensions: 163 x 170mm
Watermark: none
Inscriptions/marks: on the verso text of the Book of Joshua from a Czech (?) translation of Martin Luther’s German translation of the Old Testament. The volume containing the Old Testament Books of Joshua to Esther was first published in 1524.
Condition: printed from Cranach’s woodblock after it had been well used. A split appears in the block cutting through the left leg.
Description: The Old Testament warrior Joshua with the features of Martin Luther in armour seated on a rock with a decorative border on the left.
Reference: Hollstein, p. 14 (not sighted). See BM E,9.159 for an impression of the same subject by Erhard Altdorfer for the Lübeck Bible based on Cranach’s. See https://rarebiblesatmobia.wordpress.com/curators-choice-2/bible-portrait-gallery/bible-portrait-gallery-old-testament-in-german/for description of the German edition.
Provenance: Peter Wedde Antiques, Wellington, 2019
