An Unknown Lady, Formerly Called Sybille of Cleves, Wife of John Frederick of Saxony

An Unknown Lady Formerly Called Sybille of Cleves (1515) at Waddesdon Manor represents both a significant Cranach portrait and an interesting attributional problem — the identification with Sybille of Cleves, who became the wife of John Frederick the Magnanimous (Elector of Saxony from 1532), has been questioned on the grounds of date and physiognomy. Whether or not the identification with Sybille is correct, this is a significant Cranach female portrait from 1515 — among his most accomplished from the middle period of his career. Waddesdon Manor, the Rothschild family's French Renaissance-style château in Buckinghamshire now managed by the National Trust, holds an exceptional collection of decorative arts and paintings assembled by Ferdinand de Rothschild in the late nineteenth century. The presence of a Cranach portrait among the Waddesdon collection's French and Central European treasures reflects the cosmopolitan scope of late Victorian aristocratic collecting and the high regard in which Cranach's work was held by connoisseurs of the period.

The portrait shows Cranach's characteristic treatment of the female sitter with pale complexion, elaborate costume detail, and the decorative elegance that sometimes prioritizes aesthetic appeal over individual characterization.