Lucas Cranach the Elder ( ; – 16 October 1553) was a

German Renaissance The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance. Many areas of the arts and sciences ...

painter and

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

and

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

. He was

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits, both of

German prince The German nobility () and royalty were status groups of the medieval society in Central Europe, which enjoyed certain privileges relative to other people under the laws and customs in the German-speaking area, until the beginning of the 20th ...

s and those of the leaders of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, whose cause he embraced with enthusiasm. He was a close friend of

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

, and eleven portraits of that reformer by him survive. Cranach also painted religious subjects, first in the Catholic tradition, and later trying to find new ways of conveying

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

religious concerns in art. He continued throughout his career to paint nude subjects drawn from mythology and religion. Cranach had a large workshop and many of his works exist in different versions; his son

Lucas Cranach the Younger Lucas Cranach the Younger (, ; 4 October 1515 – 25 January 1586) was a German Renaissance painter and portraitist, the son of Lucas Cranach the Elder and brother of Hans Cranach. Life and career Lucas Cranach the Younger was born in Wittenber ...

and others continued to create versions of his father's works for decades after his death. He has been considered the most successful German artist of his time.

Early and personal life

He was born at

Kronach Kronach (; ) is a Town#Germany, town in Upper Franconia, Germany, located in the Franconian Forest area. It is the capital of the Kronach (district), district Kronach. The town is equipped with a nearly complete city wall and Germany's biggest an ...

in upper

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

(now central

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

), probably in 1472. His exact date of birth is unknown. He learned the art of drawing from his father Hans Maler (his

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

meaning "painter" and denoting his profession, not his ancestry, after the manner of the time and class). His mother, with surname Hübner, died in 1491. Later, the name of his birthplace was used for his surname, another custom of the times. How Cranach was trained is not known, but it was probably with local south German masters, as with his contemporary

Matthias Grünewald Matthias Grünewald ( – 31 August 1528; also known as Mathis Gothart Nithart) was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th cent ...

, who worked at

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

and

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

(Bamberg is the capital of the diocese in which Kronach lies). There are also suggestions that Cranach spent some time in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

around 1500. From 1504 to 1520 he lived in a house on the south west corner of the marketplace in

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

. According to Gunderam (the tutor of Cranach's children), Cranach demonstrated his talents as a painter before the close of the 15th century. His work then drew the attention of Duke

Frederick III, Elector of Saxony Frederick III (17 January 1463 – 5 May 1525), also known as Frederick the Wise (German: ''Friedrich der Weise''), was Prince-elector of Electorate of Saxony, Saxony from 1486 to 1525, who is mostly remembered for the protection given to his su ...

, known as Frederick the Wise, who attached Cranach to his court in 1504. The records of

confirm Gunderam's statement to this extent: that Cranach's name appears for the first time in the public accounts on the 24 June 1504, when he drew 50 gulden for the salary of half a year, as ("the duke's painter"). Cranach was to remain in the service of the Elector and his successors for the rest of his life, although he was able to undertake other work. Cranach married Barbara Brengbier, the daughter of a burgher of

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

and also born there; she died at

on 26 December 1540. Cranach later owned a house at Gotha, but most likely he got to know Barbara near Wittenberg, where her family also owned a house, which later also belonged to Cranach. Cranach had two sons, both artists: Hans Cranach, whose life is obscure and who died in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

in 1537; and

, born in 1515, who died in 1586. He also had three daughters. One of them was Barbara Cranach, who died in 1569, married Christian Brück (Pontanus), and was an ancestor of

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

. His granddaughter married Polykarp Leyser the Elder, thus making him an ancestor of the Polykarp Leyser family of theologians.

Career

Lucas Cranach the Elder - Apoll und Diana in waldiger Landschaft - Google Art Project

The first evidence of Cranach's skill as an artist comes in a picture dated 1504. Early in his career he was active in several branches of his profession: sometimes a decorative painter, more frequently producing portraits and

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

s, woodcuts, engravings, and designing the

coins A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

for the electorate. Early in the days of his official employment he startled his master's courtiers by the realism with which he painted still life, game and antlers on the walls of the country palaces at

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

and Locha; his pictures of deer and wild boar were considered striking, and the duke fostered his passion for this form of art by taking him out to the hunting field, where he sketched "his grace" running the stag, or Duke John sticking a boar. Before 1508 he had painted several altar-pieces for the Castle Church at Wittenberg in competition with

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...

, Hans Burgkmair and others; the duke and his brother John were portrayed in various attitudes and a number of his best woodcuts and copper-plates were published. In 1509 Cranach went to the Netherlands, and painted the Emperor Maximilian and the boy who afterwards became

Emperor Charles V Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) fr ...

. Until 1508 Cranach signed his works with his initials. In that year the elector gave him the winged snake as an emblem, or Kleinod, which superseded the initials on his pictures after that date. Portrait of Frederick the Wise by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Portrait of Frederick the Wise by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Cranach was the court painter from 1505 to 1550 to the electors of Saxony in Wittenberg, an area in the heart of the emerging

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

faith. His patrons were powerful supporters of

, and Cranach used his art as a symbol of the new faith. Cranach made numerous portraits of Luther, and provided woodcut illustrations for Luther's German translation of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. Somewhat later the duke conferred on him the

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

of the sale of medicines at Wittenberg, and a printer's patent with exclusive privileges as to

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

s. Cranach's presses were used by Martin Luther. His apothecary shop was open for centuries, and was only lost by fire in 1871. Cranach, like his patron, was friendly with the Protestant Reformers at a very early stage; yet it is difficult to fix the time of his first meeting with Martin Luther. The oldest reference to Cranach in Luther's correspondence dates from 1520. In a letter written from

Worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

in 1521, Luther calls him his "gossip", warmly alluding to his "Gevatterin", the artist's wife. Cranach first made an engraving of Luther in 1520, when Luther was an Augustinian

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

; five years later, Luther renounced his religious vows, and Cranach was present as a witness at the betrothal festival of Luther and Katharina von Bora. He was also godfather to their first child, Johannes "Hans" Luther, born 1526. In 1530 Luther lived at the citadel of

Veste Coburg The Veste Coburg (Coburg Fortress) is one of the best-preserved medieval fortresses of Germany. It is situated on a hill above the town of Coburg, in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria. Geography Location Veste Coburg dominates the town of C ...

under the protection of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and his room is preserved there along with a painting of him. The Dukes became noted collectors of Cranach's work, some of which remains in the family collection at Callenberg Castle. D 2363 2 Print 890kopie

The death in 1525 of the Elector Frederick the Wise and Elector

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

's in 1532 brought no change in Cranach's position; he remained a favourite with John Frederick I, under whom he twice (1531 and 1540) filled the office of burgomaster of

. In 1547, John Frederick was taken prisoner at the

Battle of Mühlberg The Battle of Mühlberg took place near Mühlberg in the Electorate of Saxony in 1547, during the Schmalkaldic War. The Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire led by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V decisively defeated the Lutheran Schmal ...

, and Wittenberg was besieged. As Cranach wrote from his house to the grand-master

Albert, Duke of Prussia Albert of Prussia (; 17 May 149020 March 1568) was a German prince who was the 37th grand master of the Teutonic Knights and, after converting to Lutheranism, became the first ruler of the Duchy of Prussia, the secularized state that emerged fr ...

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

to tell him of John Frederick's capture, he showed his attachment by saying,

I cannot conceal from your Grace that we have been robbed of our dear prince, who from his youth upwards has been a true prince to us, but God will help him out of prison, for the Kaiser is bold enough to revive the Papacy, which God will certainly not allow.

During the siege Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, remembered Cranach from his childhood and summoned him to his camp at Pistritz. Cranach came, and begged on his knees for kind treatment for Elector John Frederick. Three years afterward, when all the dignitaries of the Empire met at

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

to receive commands from the emperor, and

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

came at Charles's bidding to paint King

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

, John Frederick asked Cranach to visit the city; and here for a few months he stayed in the household of the captive elector, whom he afterward accompanied home in 1552.

Death and veneration

He died at age 81 on 16 October 1553, at

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

, where the house in which he lived still stands in the marketplace. He was buried in the Jacobsfriedhof in Weimar. The

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

remembers Cranach as a great Christian on 6 April along with Dürer, and possibly Grünewald or Burgkmair.

Works and art

The oldest extant picture by Cranach is the ''Rest of the Virgin during the Flight into Egypt'', of 1504. The painting already shows remarkable skill and grace, and the pine forest in the background shows a painter familiar with the mountain scenery of

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

. There is more forest gloom in landscapes of a later time. Following the huge international success of Dürer's prints, other German artists, much more than Italian ones, devoted their talents to woodcuts and engravings. This accounts for the comparative unproductiveness as painters of

and

Hans Holbein the Younger Hans Holbein the Younger ( , ; ; – between 7 October and 29 November 1543) was a German-Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He ...

, and also may explain why Cranach was not especially skilled at handling colour, light, and shade. Constant attention to contour and to black and white, as an engraver, seems to have affected his sight; and he often outlined shapes in black rather than employing modelling and

chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...

. The largest proportion of Cranach's output is of portraits, and it is chiefly thanks to him that we know what the German Reformers and their princely adherents looked like. He painted not only Martin Luther himself but also Luther's wife, mother and father. He also depicted leading Catholics like Albert of Brandenburg, archbishop elector of Mainz, Anthony Granvelle and the Duke of Alva. A dozen likenesses of Frederick III and his brother John are dated 1532. It is characteristic of Cranach's prolific output, and a proof that he used a large workshop, that he received payment at Wittenberg in 1533 for "sixty pairs of portraits of the elector and his brother" on one day. Inevitably the quality of such works is variable.

Religious subjects

1529 Cranach Allegorie auf Gesetz und Gnade anagoria

Cranach's religious subjects reflect the development of the

, and its attitudes to religious images. In his early career, he painted several Madonnas; his first woodcut (1505) represents the Virgin and three saints in prayer before a

crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...

. Later on he painted the marriage of St. Catherine, a series of

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

doms, and scenes from the Passion. After 1517 he occasionally illustrated the old subjects, but he also gave expression to some of the thoughts of the Reformers, although his portraits of reformers were more common than paintings of religious scenes. In a picture of 1518, where a dying man offers "his soul to God, his body to earth, and his worldly goods to his relations", the soul rises to meet the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

in heaven, and salvation is clearly shown to depend on faith and not on good works. Other works of this period deal with sin and divine grace. One shows

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

sitting between

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

and a prophet at the foot of a tree. To the left God produces the tables of the law,

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

taste the forbidden fruit, the serpent raises its head, and punishment manifests in the shape of death and the realm of

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

. To the right, the Conception, Crucifixion and

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

symbolize redemption, and this is duly impressed on Adam by John the Baptist. There are two examples of this composition in the galleries of

and

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, both of them dated 1529. His workshop made an altarpiece with a Crucifixion scene in the centre which is now in the Kreuzkirche, Hanover. Towards the end of his life, after Luther's initial hostility to large public religious images had softened, Cranach painted a number of "Lutheran altarpieces" of the

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, ''The Last Supper (Leonardo), The Last Supper'' (1495-1498). Mural, tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic ...

and other subjects, in which Christ was shown in a traditional manner, including a

halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...

, but the apostles, without halos, were portraits of leading reformers. He also produced a number of violent anti-Catholic and anti-Papacy propaganda prints in a cruder style. His best known work in this vein was a series of prints for the pamphlet ''Passional Christi und Antichristi'', where scenes from the ''

Passion of Christ The Passion (from latin language, Latin , "to suffer, bear, endure") is the short final period before the death of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels. It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy ...

'' were matched by a print mocking practices of the Catholic clergy, so that Christ driving the money-changers from the Temple was matched by the Pope, or

Antichrist In Christian eschatology, Antichrist (or in broader eschatology, Anti-Messiah) refers to a kind of entity prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ and falsely substitute themselves as a savior in Christ's place before ...

, signing indulgences over a table spread with cash (see gallery below). Some of the prints were echoed by paintings, such as his '' Adoration of the Shepherds'' (c. 1517). One of his last works is the altarpiece, completed after his death by Lucas Cranach the Younger in 1555, for the Stadtkirche (city church) at

. The

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

is original and unusual: Christ is shown twice, to the left trampling on Death and Satan, to the right crucified, with blood flowing from the lance wound.

points to the suffering Christ, whilst the blood-stream falls on the head of a portrait of Cranach, and Luther reads from his book the words, "The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin." File:Lucas Cranach d. Ä. - The Lamentation of Christ - The Schleißheim Crucifixion - Alte Pinakothek.jpg, ''Crucifixion of Christ'', 1503 File:Cranach Madonna under the fir tree.jpg, ''Madonna under the Fir Tree'', 1510, Archdiocesan Museum,

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

File:Måleri, religiös bild. Cranach - Skoklosters slott - 88957.tif, ''The Birth of John the Baptist'', 1518 File:Infant Jesus and John the Baptist as child.jpg, ''Infant Jesus and John the Baptist as Child'' File:Herderkirche Weimar Cranach Altarpiece.jpg, The Herderkirche Weimar Altarpiece by Lucas Cranach the Elder and finished by his son

in 1555 after his father's death File:Lucas Cranach d. Ä. (Werkst.) - Moses und die Wolkensäule (nach 1530).jpg, ''Moses and the Pillar of Cloud'' by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Studio. Circa 1530. Private collection.

Mythological scenes

Cranach was equally successful in a series of paintings of mythological scenes which nearly always feature at least one slim female figure, naked but for a transparent drape or a large hat. These are mostly in narrow upright formats; examples are several of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, alone or with

Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid ( , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the god of war Mars. He is also known as Amor (Latin: ...

, who has sometimes stolen a honeycomb, and complains to Venus that he has been stung by a bee (Weimar, 1530; Berlin, 1534). Other such subjects are the Three Graces, Diana with

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

, shooting a bow, and

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

sitting at the spinning-wheel mocked by

Omphale In Greek mythology, Omphale (; ) was princess of the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor. Diodorus Siculus provides the first appearance of the Omphale theme in literature, though Aeschylus was aware of the episode. The Greeks did not recognize her a ...

and her maids. A similar approach was taken with the biblical subjects of

Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

and

. He and his workshop also painted more than sixty versions of

Lucretia According to Roman tradition, Lucretia ( /luːˈkriːʃə/ ''loo-KREE-shə'', Classical Latin: �ʊˈkreːtia died ), anglicized as Lucrece, was a noblewoman in ancient Rome. Sextus Tarquinius (Tarquin) raped her. Her subsequent suicide precipi ...

, the self-stabbing pagan heroine whose death sparked the Roman Republic. File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Amor beklagt sich bei Venus (National Gallery, London).jpg, '' Cupid Complaining to Venus'', c. 1525 File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Venus mit Cupid als Honigdieb (Galleria Borghese).jpg, ''

Venus and Cupid with a Honeycomb ''Venus and Cupid with a Honeycomb'' is an oil painting by the German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder, one of the masters of the German Renaissance. It was probably executed in 1531 after Cranach met Georg Sabinus, a German poet, diplomat and academ ...

'', c. 1527 File:Lucas Cranach (I) - Venus and Cupid (1529) - National Gallery London.jpg, ''Venus and Cupid'', 1529 File:Lucas Cranach the Elder - Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Venus and Amor'', 1530 File:Lucas Cranach d. Ä. - Venus and Cupid - WGA05644.jpg, ''Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey'', 1531 File:Bemberg Fondation Toulouse - Vénus et Cupidon - Lucas Cranach (I) - 1531 Inv.1015.jpg, ''Venus with Cupid'', 1531 File:Lucas Cranach the Elder - Venus - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Venus'', 1532 File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Caritas (Koninklijk Museum v. Schone Kunsten Antwerpen).jpg, '' Caritas (Lucas Cranach the Elder)'', c. 1537 File:Judgement of Paris by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1528).jpg, Judgement of Paris (1528) These subjects were produced early in his career, when they show Italian influences including that of Jacopo de' Barberi, who was at the court of Saxony for a period up to 1505. They then become rare until after the death of Frederick the Wise. The later nudes are in a distinctive style which abandons Italian influence for a revival of Late Gothic style, with small heads, narrow shoulders, high breasts and waists. The poses become more frankly seductive and even exhibitionist. Humour and pathos are combined at times in pictures such as ''Jealousy'' (Augsburg, 1527; Vienna, 1530), where women and children are huddled into groups as they watch the strife of men wildly fighting around them. A lost canvas of 1545 is said to show hares catching and roasting hunters. In 1546, possibly under Italian influence, Cranach composed the ''Fons Juventutis'' ('' The Fountain of Youth''), executed by his son, a picture in which older women are seen entering a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

fountain, and exiting it transformed into youthful beauties.

Paintings

Portraits

Lucas Cranach the Elder - Duke Henry the Pious - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Duke Henry the Pious'', 1514 Attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder Portrait of the Duchess Catherine Thielska 78.tif, '' Catherine of Mecklenburg'', 1514 Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Bildnis einer jungen Frau (Galleria degli Uffizi).jpg, '' Sybille'', 1530s 1516 Emilia.jpg, '' Emilie'', c. 1535 File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Porträt eines sächsischen Prinzen.jpg, ''Portrait of a Saxon Prince'' (possibly Johann, husband of Elizabeth of Hesse), c. 1517 File:Lucas Cranach d. Ä. 052.jpg, ''Portrait of a Saxon Princess'' (possibly George of Saxony's daughter-in-law Elizabeth of Hesse), c. 1517 File:Lucas Cranach d. Ä. 044FXD.jpg, ''John Frederick I'', 1531 File:Lucas Cranach d. Ä. 040.jpg, '' Sibylle of Cleves'', wife of John Frederick I, 1526 File:LucasCranachtheElderCuspinian.jpg, '' Johannes Cuspinian'', 1502 File:Lucas Cranach d. Ä. 036.jpg, Johannes Cuspinian's wife, 1502 File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Bildnis des Lukas Spielhausen.jpg, '' Lukas Spielhausen'', 1532, Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Bildnis des Markgrafen Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach (Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum).jpg, '' Albert of Prussia'', 1528, Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum

Religion, mythology, allegory

File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Adam und Eva (Courtauld Institute of Art).jpg, Adam and Eve (Courtauld Institute of Art) File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Venus mit Cupid als Honigdieb (Galleria Borghese).jpg, ''

'', c. 1527 File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Das Martyrium der Heiligen Barbara.jpg, '' The Martyrdom of Saint Barbara'', 1510, Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Cranach, Lucas, d.Ä. - Die Heilige Dorothea - c. 1530.jpg, ''Dorothea'', c. 1530 File:Lucas Cranach d. Ä. - Judith Victorious - WGA05720.jpg, ''

Judith The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book included in the Septuagint and the Catholic Church, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Christian Old Testament of the Bible but Development of the Hebrew Bible canon, excluded from the ...

with the head of Holofernes'', 1530 File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Simson bezwingt den Löwen.jpg, ''

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

's Fight with the Lion'', 1525 File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Phyllis und Aristotle (1530).jpg, ''Phyllis and Aristotle'', 1530 File:Gerechtigkeit-1537.jpg, ''

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

'', 1537 File:Bemberg_fondation_Toulouse_-_Les_amoureux_-_Lucas_Cranach_l'Ancien.jpg, ''Lovers'', Bemberg Foundation, Toulouse File:Cranach Eve.jpg, ''Eve'', National Museum, Wrocław File:CranachBrandenburgasJerome.jpg, '' Saint Jerome in His Study'', 1526

Looted Cranachs

The Nazis had a particular affection for Cranach's work and looted many paintings during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. This has led to claims for restitution, notably from Jewish collectors who were persecuted or looted by the Nazis. The Nazis looted Cranach's Portrait of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (around 1530s) from Jewish art collector Friedrich Gutmann, Fritz Gutmann before murdering him but the painting was recovered by Gutmann's grandson Simon Goodman eighty years later after decades of searching. Cranach's "Cupid Complaining to Venus" passed through in Adolf Hitler, Hitler's personal collection, causing the National Gallery to research its history, suspecting that it may have been looted. The diptych ''Adam and Eve'' by Lucas Cranach the Elder has been the focus of a legal dispute between the heirs of the former owner, Dutch art collector Jacques Goudstikker, and the Norton Simon Museum, Norton Simon museum in California. In 1999, the Commission for Art Recovery of the World Jewish Congress notified the North Carolina Museum of Art that its prized Cranach Madonna and Child had been looted by Nazis from the Jewish Viennese art collector Philip Gomperz, Philipp von Gomperz. On 20 October 2000 a Budapest court ruled that a Cranach and other paintings claimed by the granddaughter of famous Hungarian Jewish art collector Baron Herzog that were looted by Nazis with the Hungarian financial police should be returned to her. In 2012 the heirs of Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer submitted a claim to the National Gallery of Ireland for a Cranach painting of Saint Christopher. The museum hired a private provenance researcher, Laurie Stein, to investigate the circumstance of the sale in 1934, and she concluded that the Cranach had not been sold under duress by the Jewish owners. In April 2021 Cranach's "The Resurrection" was sold at auction following a settlement between the heirs of Holocaust victim Margarete Eisenmann and the art dealer Eugene V. Thaw, Eugene Thaw. After being looted, the Cranach had been consigned to Sothebys by Hans Lange and passed through Hugo Perls and Knoedler, Knoedler Galleries before being acquired by Eugene Thaw. Most of the lawsuits last many years and go through several appeals in different courts. A painting by a follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder titled ''Lamentation (School of Lucas Cranach the Elder), Lamentation'' and completed in the 1530s, which had been looted from Poland in 1946, was returned to the National Museum, Wrocław in 2022.

References

External links

*
cranach.net
Containing more than 15000 images and 6000 research documents, collaborative project by about 60 international art historians

Containing images and research information, collaborative project by 26 international galleries
Fifteenth- to eighteenth-century European paintings: France, Central Europe, the Netherlands, Spain, and Great Britain
a collection catalog fully available online as a PDF, which contains material on Lucas Cranach the Elder (cat. no. 9)
''Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Lucas Cranach the Elder (see index) * Discussion of ''Portrait of Martin Luther'' by Janina Ramirez and Peter Stanford
Art Detective Podcast, 26 April 2017Cranach map of Palestine, 1508 or 1515.
Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, the National Library of Israel *Joshua P. Waterman, "'Portrait of Joachim II of Brandenburg' by Lucas Cranach the Elder (cat. 739)''doi:10.29075/9780876332764/1, The John G. Johnson Collection: A History and Selected Works'', Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Critical Catalogue of Luther portraits (1519 - 1530)
Results of the research project, 2018-2021, Germanisches Nationalmuseum / Cranach Digital Archive / University of Erlangen-Nuremberg / Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences / Technical University of Cologne. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cranach, Lucas, The Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1472 births 1553 deaths People from Kronach (district) German Lutherans People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar German portrait painters German Renaissance painters German printmakers German court painters Cranach family 15th-century German painters 16th-century German painters