A portrait of Emperor Charles V from the workshop of Lucas Cranach, circa 1532Oil on wood. The half-length portrait of the Emperor in three-quarter profile with a black beret und overgown. The Emperor with a tranquil expression and light beard, rendered in great detail. The finely pleated white shirt with a delicate ornamental border, the collar of the Golden Fleece around his neck. The red doublet edged in magnificent gold embroidery. The back inlaid. In an ebonised moulded frame in the style of the 16th century (marginally knocked). Size of the painting 55 x 45.5 cm, including frame 75 x 66 cm.Also includes a modern x-ray image of the painting, visibly signed by the laboratory of the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich.This painting was offered for sale at Christie's in 2014 with a catalogue price of 35,000 euros, only to be seized before the auction on suspicion of being a forgery. Against the backdrop of the investigations into the well-known Cranach copyist Christian Goller, the portrait of Charles V was initially regarded as a suspected fake by Goller. However, subsequent examinations failed to confirm this suspicion and ruled out the possibility that this picture was in fact painted by him. The confiscation of the painting was revoked in spring 2015 and the picture subsequently returned to the owner by the investigating Senior Public Prosecutor's Office in Passau. Provenance: South German private collection, acquired in the auction house Munich during the 1960s as a work from the Cranach workshop. Enclosed is a copy of a handwritten appraisal by A. Stanger(?), Tutzing, dated 20 September 1966.Condition: II