Monogrammed and dated lower right on the two stone plates: HS 1518 Certificate Prof. Dr. Gunnar Heydenreich, Cologne 28.9.2021. This painting, reminiscent of works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, reveals a number of similarities in the design of the vestments, the decoration and the landscape to works attributed to the South German painter and graphic artist Heinrich Vogtherr the Elder, for example the "Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus" in Aschaffenburg (Bayrische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, inv. no. 6275) or "Christ and the Adulteress" in Cologne (Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, inv. no. 530). The present work is signed at the bottom centre on the right side of the stone with the initials "HS", as is the Aschaffenburg Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus. The initials can be resolved as "Henricus Satrapitanus", as Heinrich Vogtherr used to call himself (Emmendörfer 1998, op. cit.). From about 1514-1517, Vogtherr can be traced back in Leipzig several times, until he returned to his southern German home in Augsburg in 1518. He undoubtedly used many of Cranach's motifs in his works, and he also acquired techniques used in Cranach's workshop. He may even have worked at times in the Wittenberg workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder (Gunnar Heydenreich, op. cit., p. 286). In preparation for the current certificate, the painting was examined in September 2021, using art technical analysis in order to gain information about the materials and techniques used. The infrared reflectography made in the process (see illustration) reveals a sketchy preliminary drawing for the composition, certainly not intended for the execution of the painting by another assistant, but by Heinrich Vogtherr himself. Dimensions 49.5 x 38 cm Artist or Maker Heinrich Vogtherr the Elder Medium Oil on panel (parquetted) Literature For the monogram HS cf. Christoph Emmendörfer: Die selbständigen Cranachschüler. In Exhibition catalogue: Unsichtbare Meisterzeichnungen auf dem Malgrund. Cranach und seine Zeitgnossen, ed. by Ingo Sandner, the Wartburg-Stiftung Eisenach and the University of Applied Sciences Cologne (exhibition in Eisenach), Regensburg 1998, p. 203-228. - On Vogtherr's possible activity in the Cranach workshop cf. Gunnar Heydenreich: Lucas Cranach the Elder, Amsterdam 2007. Provenance 1931 Acquired on the Munich art market in 1931. Since then in South German private collection. Notes VAT: Margin scheme