PROVENANCE: Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, 1659, no. 607; Belvedere Collection, Vienna, 1824, no. 53; Imperial Gallery, Vienna, 1886, no. 1479 and 1907, no. 1464; Archer M. Huntington, New York; William Morris Tilden, New York; T. Gilbert Brouillette, New York; Morrie A. Moss, Memphis, TN; BJU, 1967.

Cranach studied art in Vienna , and was one of the earliest practitioners of landscape painting. In this scene, he explores the new genre by placing the action in the countryside. The painting displays Cranach's love of color and attention to detail.

As a friend of Martin Luther's, Cranach helped to create and disseminate a new kind of art. The form included portraits of Protestant reformers and paintings illustrating the Gospel's main tenets. The subject of this painting is drawn from a text in II Samuel. Starting in the lower left-hand corner of the frame, the Latin translates, "Joab and Abner; and he strikes him there through the groin. Book of Second Samuel chapter 3:27."