The Fountain of Youth (Cranach)
| German: Der Jungbrunnen | |
.jpg) | |
| Artist | Lucas Cranach the Elder |
|---|---|
| Year | 1546 |
| Type | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 186.1 cm × 120.6 cm (73.3 in × 47.5 in) |
| Location | Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
The fountain of youth is a painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder from the year 1546.
Description
The image is an oil painting on a lime wood board, executed in landscape format with the dimensions 186.1 x 120.6 centimeters. It shows on the bottom center, a winged serpent in flight from Cranach's workshop and the year 1546.[1][2] It shows a fountain where older women but not men bathe, are rejuvenated and finally indulge in music, dance and good food. Cranach presents in this fairy tale image, in many details the real bathing culture of the Middle Ages, that based on the belief that certain baths might heal and rejuvenate. Sensual pleasures belonged to the bathroom now.
The picture belonged to the inventory of the former Prussian royal palaces, and now hangs in the Gemäldegalerie museum in Berlin.[3]
Analysis
In the background is a fantastic rocky landscape with unreal perspectives and proportions, with a miniature castle on a rock, a medieval city view and a stone arch bridge over a river, right a mighty mountain range on the horizon and lush fields and fruit trees. Links the barren rock, symbolizing the arduous age of women; right the Flourishing as a metaphor for the fruitful youth. In the center of the basin is crowned with the figures of Venus and Cupid, suggesting that this bath of love force renewal serves as a water dispenser column.
On the left side are women, unable to walk, old and frail moved up and worn, can undress, get into the water, which she healed and rejuvenated left on the right side again. A gallant young man asks then in a tent for Neueinkleidung to then indulge in the sensual pleasures can.[4] In the right foreground the bushes lounge around and a couple in the background is danced and dined to the music.
Pictured more ironic and frivolous allusions are seen as the left edge of the pool of the bespectacled man in a red jacket with book, it could be a doctor who examined a naked old woman before she enters the water. Two wrapped in towels women, one on the left, the other on the lower edge of the pool, may be reluctant to doubt whether a rejuvenated life is even desirable. The fact that only women attend this bath, is due to the belief that old men would automatically rejuvenate in dealing with young women. But in reality such a fountain of youth were also visited by men who hoped healing. In Cranach's picture all men are young, represented gallant and advantageous the old women, however ugly and unattractive. Spread over the entire image tell Cranach's figures naturally the individual stages of supernatural transformation. It is the search for paradise. The picture shows a man's dream.
Water has drinking and bathing healthy force, which easily led to believe in broader effects of the water, as shown by the baptismal rites of the religions. The fountain was a popular narration and motif especially in France in the Middle Ages. He offered versatile opportunities of nudes and genre scenes.
The presentation of old naked women was uncommon in the art of that period. Only Young bodies were naked painted. The former beauty ideal for women consisted of a bulging belly, round shapes without pubic hair, a high-set breasts with small nipples and gelbblondem hair. So largely desexualized childlike virginal body also arose in Cranach, according to the tastes of the time. The attribution of the picture is not entirely clear. The research calls both the Father Lucas Cranach. Ä., And his son as author. Lately it is associated with the late work of the father, but other employees of the Cranach workshop were involved in the execution. The image was made to order, but who was the patron, is unknown.[5]
Provenance
By 1830, the fountain was part of the management of the royal palaces. Then it came to the Royal Museum and now hangs in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.
References
- ↑ Katalog der Gemäldegalerie Berlin. Berlin-Dahlem 1975, S. 118 f.
- ↑ http://lucascranach.org/DE_smbGG_593
- ↑ Henning Bock, Irene Geismeier, Rainald Grosshans, Jan Kelch, Wilhelm H. Köhler, Rainer Michaelis, Hannelore Nützmann, Erich Schleier: Gemäldegalerie Berlin. Gesamtverzeichnis. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-88609-290-9.
- ↑ Dierk Spreen: "Die kurze Geschichte der Zeitmaschine". in: Quarre Merkur 89/90. 1999, Nr. 36. S. 111–113.)
- ↑ Frank, Christian. "Verein 1000 Jahre Kronach e.V. - Der Geschichts- und Kulturverein in der Lucas-Cranach-Stadt Kronach - 500 Jahre - Lucas Cranach d. J.". www.1000-jahre-kronach-ev.de. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
Sources
- Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub: Der Jungbrunnen, 1549. (= Der Kunstbrief. 4). Mann, Berlin um 1943, OCLC 260090865 (online).
- Ausschnitt aus dem „Jungbrunnen des Lukas Cranach“ In: Du: kulturelle Monatsschrift. Band 6, 1946, Heft 9, doi:10.5169/seals-289826. (Zwei vergrößerte Ausschnitte auf den Folgeseiten)
- Elena Likhovodova: Die Suche nach dem irdischen Paradies im „Jungbrunnen“ von L. Cranach d. Ä. (= Dissertation Freie Universität Berlin). Berlin 2000/2001, OCLC 638132208.
External links
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- This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.