Tiny Cranach Painting That Vanished During WWII Returns to Dresden
A miniature wood-panel portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder depicting Friedrich III (“Frederick the Wise”) has been returned to the State Art Collections of Dresden after disappearing at the end of World War II. The work was last documented in May 1945 among objects stored in the Pockau-Lengefeld limestone quarry for safekeeping as the Red Army approached, and it resurfaced in 2024 when consigned to the Paris auction house Artcurial, which investigated its provenance. A key identifier was the number “1355” painted in gold on the panel, matching a 1722–1728 inventory entry from when it was kept in the Royal Palace church; the painting is one of more than 500 works Dresden lists as lost. The Dreyfus family in France returned it after “lengthy negotiations” and a “financial agreement,” and it is now on view in the Royal Palace Coin Cabinet exhibition “All that Glisters is Not Gold,” marking the 500th anniversary of Friedrich III’s death, before moving to permanent display in the Semper Gallery.
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This story was covered in Blue Pools, Stolen Jewels, and Museum Power Plays