With its dynamism, chromatic richness, and fine detail, this large panel is emblematic of the German Renaissance.  The painting is one of the few known examples by the Master H.B. with a Griffin’s Head, an anonymous artist who probably trained in the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder and was certainly active in the elder master’s ambit in the mid-sixteenth century.   The Master H.B.’s moniker arose from his distinct signature, which features a stylized emblem of the eponymous mythological beast, which often appeared alongside the initials “H.B.”  At least three other variants, with some slight compositional differences, are known by this master: one of slightly larger dimensions in the Episcopal Cathedral and Diocesan Museum, Mainz;¹ another formerly in the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin, but lost during World War II;² and a third in the Musée du Louvre in Paris.³

A captivating energy fills this beautiful scene and draws the eye through the composition.  This biblical story of Christ Blessing the Children, taken from the Gospel of Mark (10:14), tells of the young children brought to Christ who counters his disciples’ objections by uttering the words visible along the painting’s upper edge, “Let the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” At the center of the composition stands Christ, surrounded by a dense crowd of infants and young women. The elegantly attired figures wear Renaissance finery, their cost.mes s offering a brilliant array of color and decorative elements. Particularly delightful passages include the rich red fabrics of the mother who supports her child in Christ’s arms, the elaborate attire of the lady in the lower left corner, and the sheer cloth draped over the child she holds.

The relatively small corpus of works known by the Master H.B. with a Griffin’s Head possesses a fairly distinct and consistent style. His output is highly narrative in content, as visible in the present example, and his paintings betray the clear influence of the Cranach family, who were active in Wittenberg. Like Cranach, this anonymous master delighted in depicting elaborate cost.mes s and jewelry. His style, however, is more mannered than his famous contemporary, as the master’s figures have more elongated oval faces and more sharply defined drapery.

Although the subject of Christ Blessing the Children is relatively rare in art, it was treated several t.mes s by Lucas Cranach the Elder as well as his workshop in the second half of the 1530s. For example, Cranach the Elder painted one version in about 1537, today in the Wawel Royal Castle (fig. 1). The two paintings bear striking similarities, but the present panel differs from Cranach’s version in that the figures are more richly attired, the scene is more crowded and energetic, and the group of dissenting apostles has been reduced to a singular figure whose mouth (from which would arise words of protest) has been cleverly blocked by a mother.

In a t.mes when childhood mortality rates were extremely high, a painting like this, serving an almost apotropaic function, would have appealed to wealthy German patrons hoping to protect their offspring. To the modern eye, however, the painting evokes a particular charm not often found in the typically more somber religious paintings of the period.

1. Oil on panel, 122.5 by 106 cm, signed upper left with a griffin head and a date 155[?].  lucascranach.org/en/DE_BDDM_M00524

2. Oil on panel, 106 by 90 cm, signed upper right with a serpent with dropped wings and the monogram HB, and dated 1548.  https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_smbGG-Lost_2126/

3. Inv. no. MNR 521, oil on panel, 73 by 59.8 cm. See Hofbauer 2022, p. 80, cat. no. CC-BNT_190-034, reproduced.