Virgin and Child in a Landscape

Artist Lucas Cranach the Elder German, circa 1472–1553

Datecirca 1518

MediumOil on panel

Dimensionsoverall: 16 1/2 × 10 1/4 in. (41.9 × 26 cm)
frame: 21 5/8 × 15 7/8 × 2 3/8 in. (54.9 × 40.3 × 6 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePhilipp von Gomperz Collection, Vienna, Austria (looted by the Nazis, 1940; restituted, 2000). Acquired by the North Carolina Museum of Art as the partial gift of Cornelia and Marianne Hainisch in tribute to their great-uncle Philipp von Gomperz, and as a partial purchase with funds from the State of North Carolina, Mrs. George Khuner, Howard Young, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, D. H. Cavat (in memory of W. R. Valentiner), Ernest V. Horvath, and Arthur Leroy and Lila Fisher Caldwell, by exchange, and Thomas S. Kenan III Frame donated anonymously in memory of family members who survived the Holocaust.

Object number2000.3

On View

On view

ProvenanceFriedrich Jakob Gsell (1811/12–1871), Vienna; (sale, Plach, Vienna, 14 March 1872, lot 195); Josefine (Gomperz) von Wertheimstein (1820–1894), Vienna; (by inheritance?) Philipp von Gomperz (1860–1944), Vienna, Austria and Montreaux, Switzerland; illegally confiscated by the Gestapo, 1940; transferred to Galerie Sanct Lucas, Vienna, 1942; acquired by Baldur von Schirach (1907–1974), Gauleiter (Governor) of Vienna, 1943; to Alfred Helmut Jacob, Vienna, 1944; sold to art dealer Siegfried Thalheimer, New York, 1950; with E. & A. Silberman Galleries, New York, 1950; sold to Georg(e) Khuner (1886–1952) and wife Marianne Stern Khuner (1890–1984), Beverly Hills, CA, ca. 1952; deeded as a gift to the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1964, donors retaining lifetime possession; received by NCMA after the death of Mrs. Khuner, 1984; ownership transferred from NCMA to Marianne and Cornelia Hainisch, heirs of Philipp von Gomperz, Vienna, 2000; re-acquired by NCMA 2000.

Published ReferencesRaleigh, NC: The News and Observer (September 8, 1984), illus. 3E. La Chronique des Arts, Supplement to the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, "Principales Aquisitions des Musées en 1984," no. 1394 (March 1985), 30, illus. 168. "Recent Acquisitions," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Spring 1985), discussed and illus. (b-w) 13. "News from the World of Art," Apollo 121 (June 1985), illus. 432. La Chronique des Arts, Supplement to the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, "Principales Aquisitions des Musées en 1985," no. 1406 March 1986), 25, illus. 159. L. E. [Lisa Eveleigh], "Private Collectors Share Their Art," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Autumn 1992), noted 11-12, illus. (b-w) 12. Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (color) 147. Anthony F. Janson, "The Meaning of the Landscape in Bellini's St. Francis in Ecstasy," Artibus et Historiae 15, no. 30 (Vienna: Irsa, 1994), cf. 16, p. 53. Rebecca Martin Nagy, entry for Madonna and Child in a Landscape, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 84, illus. (color). James Rosen and Tom Hamburger, "Sisters lay claim to N.C. museum art as Nazi loot," The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC (November 7, 1999), 1A, 22A, illus. (color) 1A. James Rosen and Tom Hamburger, "Art claim puts museum curator in crossfire," The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC (November 8, 1999), 1A, 6A, illus. (color) 6A. Oliver Rathkolb, "From the 'Legacy of Shame' to New Debates over Nazi Looted Art," in The Vranitzky Era in Austria (Contemporary Austrian Studies, vol. 7), Gunter Bischof, Anton Pelinka and Ferdinand Karlhofer, eds. (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1999), 216-228, discussed (as missing) 222. Yonat Shimron, "Object of Nazi theft to return to N.C.," The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC (June 2, 2000), 1A, 21A, illus. 1A. Yonat Shimron, "Prized painting completes worldwide odyssey in Raleigh," The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC (September 8, 2000), 1A, 9A, illus. 9A. "North Carolina Returns Nazi-Looted Painting," The WJC Report 25, No 1 (September/October 2000), 6, illus. John Coffey, "Cranach Painting Rejoins NCMA Collection," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview and Calendar of Events (Sept/Oct 2000), 12-13, illus. (b-w) 12. North Carolina Museum of Art Preview and Calendar of Events (Nov/Dec 2000), 10, 19, illus. (b-w) 10, 19, (b-w detail) cover. Dennis P. Weller, "Portrait of the Artist: Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview and Calendar of Events (Sept/Oct 2000), 14. North Carolina Museum of Art Annual Report (1999-2000), 26-29, illus. (b-w) 27, (b-w detail) inside front cover. Jo Woestendiek, "What Child is This?", Winston-Salem, NC: Prime Times (November 15, 2000), illus. 11. Norman Palmer, Museums and the Holocaust: Law, Principles and Practice (Leicester: Institute of Art and Law, 2000), briefly discussed 18–19, illus. (b-w). Gina Bernacchi, "Museums Acting Quickly to Return Nazi Loot," The Nonprofit Times 15 (February 15, 2001), 16, illus. (color). Inge Reist, "The Frick Art Reference Library Helps Solve Provenance Research Mysteries." The Frick Collection Members' Magazine (Spring/Summer 2001), 13, illus. (color). Stuart Levin, "As I See It," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview andCalendar of Events (Mar/Apr 2001), 29. Aaron Mildrad with David Kelman, "Stolen Art and Holocaust Claims Part III," Personal Property Journal (American Society of Appraisers) 13, no. 2 (Summer 2001), 29-30, illus. (b-w) 29. "Principales Aquisitions des Musées en 2001," La Chronique des Arts, Supplement to the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, no. 1598 (March 2002), listed no. 166, illus (b-w) 38. Bonnie J. Noble, "'Laud and love her simply': Lucas Cranach's Madonna in the North Carolina Museum of Art," The Southern Quarterly 40, no. 2 (Summer 2002), 4-20, illus. (b-w) 4 and front cover. Sophie Lillie, Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens (Vienna: Czernin Verlags, 2003), 419 (discussion of Gomperz collection), listed 425, as no. 27, illus. (b-w) 416. Marilyn Henry, "Stolen Images," Hadassah Magazine 87, no. 9 (May 2006), discussed 35, illus. (color) 34. Yonat Shimron, "A Madonna stolen by Nazis takes a trip home," Raleigh, NC: The News and Observer (December 1, 2008), discussed and illus. (color detail) 1A. Recollection, Raub, und Restitution (exhibition catalogue) (Vienna: Passagen Verlag, 2009), 203-204, illus. (color) 205. Rebecca Martin Nagy and Dennis P. Weller, entry for Madonna and Child in a Landscape, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 168, illus. (color) 169. Thomas B. Cole, "The Cover," JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association 306, no. 23 (December 21, 2011), discussed 2542, illus. (color) 2533 and cover. Cranach Digital Archive: http://lucascranach.org/US_NCMAR_2000-3 Accessed April 29, 2020.

Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Objects of Desire: The Museum Collects, 1994-2004," July 18, 2004-February 27, 2005. Vienna, Austria, MAK - Museum for Applied Art / Contemporary Art, "Recollecting: Looted Art and Restitution," December 3, 2008-February 15, 2009, pp. 203-204, illus. (color) 205. Greenville, SC, Bob Jones University Museum and Gallery, “The Art of Sleuthing,” February 29–June 5, 2016. Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present.

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