Pictures of Lucas Cranach, Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein

Unknown artist

The etching shows three framed images of the artists Lucas Cranach d. Ä., Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein d. Ä. The paintings stand on the ground, a material that was probably covered over them has been knocked back. In front of the portraits are brush and palette, canvas and a book as attributes of creating. In addition to the Holbein portrait, slightly dragged into the dark, one gets to know one more picture with a toaddy. In the raised hand it holds an hourglass, refers to the posthumous fame of the three painters as well as to a main work of Holbein, his dance of death. The graphic was used as an illustration in Mechel’s 1783 “Directory of the Paintings of the Imperial Royal Pictures of Gallery in Vienna,” of which a specimen together with the Heller’s handheld library and his other estate came into the estate of the Royal Library (now JH.L.art.o.233 of the State Library Bamberg).