Lucas Cranach

Lucas Cranach , the Elder, 1472-1553, German painter and engraver. The son of a painter, he settled in Wittenberg c.1504 and was court painter successively under three electors of Saxony. There he maintained a flourishing workshop and was twice burgomaster. Cranach was a close friend of Martin Luther , whose doctrine he upheld in numerous paintings and woodcuts, and he has been called the painter of the Reformation . He was a rapid and prolific painter, and the work turned out by his studio is uneven in quality. Naïve and fanciful, often awkward in draftsmanship, it has, nonetheless, freshness and originality and a warm, rich palette. His portraits are particularly successful. Among his best-known works are Repose in Egypt (Gemäldgalerie, Staatliche Mus., Berlin-Dahlem); Judgment of Paris (Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe); Adam and Eve (Courtauld Inst., London); and Crucifixion (Weimar). The latter contains figures of Luther and Cranach. His many famous protraits include those of Elector John Frederick and Self-Portrait (Uffizi). Cranach was also an accomplished miniaturist. He produced a few copperplates and designs for woodcuts. His son and pupil Lucas Cranach, the Younger, 1515-86, continued the tradition of his father, whose workshop, signature, and popularity he inherited. Their work is often indistinguishable.

Bibliography: See study ed. by E. Ruhmer (1963).

Cranach, Lucas (1472–1553), ‘the Elder’, German painter. In his youth he was celebrated as a painter of altar-pieces and all his life of portraits. In the early days of the Reformation, he espoused the Lutheran cause.