Beschreibung:

Details
LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER (KRONACH 1472-1553 WEIMAR)
The Nymph of the Spring
signed with the artist's device of a serpent with wings folded (centre right, on the tree)
oil on panel
32 1⁄4 x 47 3⁄8 in. (82.1 x 120.5 cm.)
inscribed ‘FONTIS NYMPHA SACRI SOMNVM NE / RVMPE QVIESCO’ (upper left)
Provenance
(Possibly) Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (1552-1612), Prague Castle, looted by Swedish troops in 1648 and transported to Sweden and possibly in the collection of the following,
Christina, Queen of Sweden (1626-1629), Stockholm, until 1654.
Count Gustaf Adolf Sparre (1746-1794), Sahlgrenska House, Gothenburg, and moved to Kulla Gunnarstorp, near Helsingborg, probably no later than 1775, where listed in his posthumous inventory of 1794, and by inheritance to his wife,
Countess Amelie (née Ramel) Sparre (1753-1830), Skåne, Sweden, and by descent to her daughter,
Christina Sparre (d. 1811), and by inheritance to her husband,
Count Jacob Gustaf de la Gardie (1768-1842), by whom sold with the estate in circa 1840 to,
Count Carl de Geer of Leufstra (1781-1861), by whom given in 1855 upon her marriage to Axel Fredrik Wachtmeister to his granddaughter,
Elisabeth von Platen-Wachtmeister (1834-1918), Vanås, Sweden, with this painting remaining at Kulla Gunnarstorp, and by descent, until acquired by the following,
with Verner Amell Ltd, 1990, from whom acquired by the father of the present owners.
Literature
Listed in the posthumous inventory of the estate of G.A. Sparre, Ar 1794 Den 6 Oktober företogs bouppteckning öfver Farmlidne Grefve Gustaf Axelsson Sparres Efterlämnade Ägendom pa Kulla Gunnarstorp Satersgard.., preserved in Göta hovrätts archive, Jönköping, recorded at Kulla Gunnarstorp under Tableaux, '1 d:o föreställer ett sofvande oklädt fruntimber' ('represents a sleeping unclothed woman').
O. Granberg, 'Greve Gustav Sparres Kabinett', Svenska konstsamlingarnas historia: Från Gustav Vasas tid till våra dagar, III, Stockholm, 1931, p. 66, under the transcription of the 1794 Sparre inventory of Kulla Gunnarstorp as '1 d:o föreställer ett sofvande oklädt fruntimber' ('represents a sleeping unclothed woman').
I. Hasselgren, Konstsamlaren Gustaf Adolf Sparre, 1746-1794: hans studieresa, våning och konstsamling i Göteborg, PhD dissertation, University of Gothenburg, 1974, p. 124, where recorded at Kulla Gunnarstorp as 'en liggande Venus av Lucas Cranach' ('a reclining Venus by Lucas Cranach').
Cranach Digital Archive, inv. no. PRIVATE_NONE-P434 (https://lucascranach.org/PRIVATE_NONE-P434), as 'Lucas Cranach the Elder' (accessed 11 January 2022).