"17th century Master from Kronach" is a copy after Lucas Cranach the Elder

Schlosser, from Germany, sells on 5 April 2019 a "17th century Master from Kronach" Jesus and the adulteress (or "He who is without sin...", estimated at 5,000 Euro.

The work is a good copy after Lucas Cranach. It looks slightly more modern than the original, but whether it is by Lucas Cranach the Younger or another follower is not clear to me. As the Cranachs were from Kronach (hence the name), the description clearly hinted at this, but it could have been clearer...

Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 1532

Kronach Museum, ca. 1520

 National Gallery, Canada, ca. 1535-1540

 National Gallery, Prague, after 1537

National Museum, Stockholm

Cranach the Elder (or his workshop) has made multiple, slightly varying versions of this work. The Prague version is one of the closer versons, with e.g. the two bearded heads left and right of Christ almost identical to the one for sale. On the other hand, the Christ is closer to the Stockholm version (e.g. holding the hand of the adulteress).

A more complete overview of Cranach's versions can be found at the "Corpus Cranach" at the University of Heidelberg.

There I fould the closest match to the work for sale; a version from the Aschaffenburg Museum. I show the one for sale beneath it for easy comparison. The major visual difference is the colour of the dress. Apart from this, the paintings are very comparable, perhaps the one for sale is somewhat harsher in the treatment of contours and shadows. Since the other colours are so close to the original, the changed dress is not due to this being a copy after a drawing or an engraving, but a deliberate choice by the artist. Another version of this work was in the Pinakothek in Munich in 1937 (no idea if it is still there, destroyed during the war, or otherwise changed hands), but that one was enlarged at the top. A third version, with what looks to be a more violet-coloured dress, is said at the Cranach Corpus to be in private hands. It has the same dimensions and is otherwise very comparable as well, so it might be the one for sale, or just another version. The Corpus considers the Aschaffenburg one as a genuine (workshop or Cranach), they have no opinion on the Munich version, and they consider the third one as ''not from the workshop''.

I would call this a somewhat later copy, perhaps workshop or perhaps a close follower, and it should be worth closer to 20,000 Euro as such, as Cranachs are always popular.

UPDATE: sold for 5,000 Euro, exactly at the auction estimate and way below mine.