(Weimar active in the second half of the 16th Century)
Lot and his Daughters (Genesis 19, 23–28),
bears a serpent device and date 1544 upper centre,
underneath inscribed: GENE XVIIII .CA.,
oil on panel, 49.5 x 74 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Germany

We are grateful to Rainer Stüwe for confirming the attribution of the present painting to Veit Thiem. A written certificate (March 2020) is available.

Stüwe writes: ‘The painting to be assessed is characterised by resemblances in terms of motif and style to the output of the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger. In addition to both the female and male head types, this particularly concerns the way of how the opulent garments have been rendered. There are further stylistic features pointing to an execution during the period of German Mannerism in the last third of the sixteenth century. This specifically includes the compressed composition of the three half-figures, forming a horizontal oval through the bent tree on the left, the flames of the burning town extending towards the centre of the picture from the right, and the folds of the skirt of one of the two daughters at the right bottom […]. Based on stylistic criteria, the painting should be dated to the years around 1570. Amongst Cranach’s followers from the period in question, one can find close parallels to the Cranach collaborator who worked as a court painter in Weimar. The central panel of Veit Thiem’s memorial for his father Franz Thiem, which was probably executed in 1562 and shows Christ as a victor over death and the devil (sale, Lempertz, Cologne, 19 May 2007, lot 1036), compares especially well. What is particularly close is the red cloak of the resurrected Christ, with its long, uninterrupted folds. Similarly voluminous draperies featuring long, rotating folds can be found in the figures of the resurrected Christ in the memorials for Georg Feuerlein and Jacob Heidelberg, both in Eisleben and both dating from 1563. What is also comparable is the expressively rendered fire visible on the outside of the memorial of Franz Thiem in the church of Oberweimar, showing a depiction of hell.’