Lucas Cranach the Elder was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits, both of German princes and leaders of the Protestant Reformation, whose cause he embraced with enthusiasm. He was a close friend of Martin Luther, 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 religious concerns in art. He continued to paint nude subjects from mythology and religion throughout his career.
Paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Melancholia (Lucas Cranach the Elder, Copenhagen) (1532)
Melancholia is an oil-on-panel painting by the German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder, created in 1532. It is held in the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen.
Melancholia depicts three naked babies who, with the help of sticks, try to roll a large ball through the hoop. A winged woman, lost in thought, is slicing a cane, perhaps intending to make another hoop. She is the personification of melancholy, similar to the winged genius from the engraving of the same name by Albrecht Dürer, executed 18 years before the painting of Cranach.
The Fountain of Youth (Cranach) (1546)
The Fountain of Youth is an oil-on-panel painting executed in 1546 by the German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder.
The image is an oil painting on a lime wood board, executed in landscape format with the dimensions 186.1 x 120.6 centimeters. It shows on the bottom center, a winged serpent in flight from Cranach's workshop and the year 1546.
Cupid Complaining to Venus (1526)
Cupid Complaining to Venus is an oil painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Nearly 20 similar works by Cranach and his workshop are known, from the earliest dated version in Güstrow Palace of 1527 to one in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow, dated to 1545, with the figures in a variety of poses and differing in other details. The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that the number of extant versions suggests that this was one of Cranach's most successful compositions.
A version acquired by the National Gallery, London in 1963 is perhaps the earliest example. Although undated, experts have dated it to c.1526-7. It is more elaborate than the others, and in a larger format than most, except for the similarly sized Güstrow version and a larger (life size) version at the Galleria Borghese, Rome dated to 1531. Cranach had painted Venus and Cupid together since at least his 1509 painting now held by the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
The Three Graces (Cranach) (1531)
The Three Graces is a oil painting on beech panel of 1531 by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Other versions of the subject by the artist from 1530 and 1535 are in a private collection and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City respectively.
It remained in private collections until - under risk of being sold abroad - it was declared a national treasure (i.e. subject to an export bar). The owners' asking price was 4,000,000 Euros, which needed to be raised before the end of January 2011. Three-quarters of this was raised from the museum's own funds and large donations from two French businesses.
Portrait of a Saxon Noblewoman (1534)
Portrait of a Saxon Noblewoman is an oil on canvas painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder. It has been in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon since 1892.
The painting shows a richly dressed woman posing to the painter; her precise identity remains unknown, although the abundance of jewelry seems to indicate that she is a married woman of high society. There is an enigmatic W in her hairstyle and the portrait of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony is on her pendant. Particular care was given to the woman's clothing, which is particularly sophisticated. Her hair is covered, while she gazes in the direction of the viewer, hands clasped at her hips, and her bust is slightly tilted to the left. Like is often the case in Cranach's paintings, the chromatic scale is reduced, mainly summing up to black and orange, which offer color contrasts.
The Crucifixion (Cranach) (1532)
Crucifixion is an oil painting by German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. One of many versions of the subject painted by Cranach, this one, created in 1532, is now in the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
The bottom half of the painting is crowded with figures, all symbolically arranged to the left and the right of Christ. On the viewer's left is the Virgin Mary, who is held by John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene is holding onto the Cross. The Good Thief and Longinus gaze directly at him, alluding to their salvation. There is a sharp contrast to those on the right, which includes Roman soldiers who are avoiding his gaze and the Impenitent thief, depicted as bald and bloated. Behind them are contemporary figures, who are considered unenlightened, as they have not yet borne witness to Christ.
Female Portrait (Cranach) (1530)
The Female Portrait is a painting by German Renaissance master Lucas Cranach the Elder, dating from around 1530, now housed in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, Italy.
The work was executed by Cranach's workshop basing on his drawing. It depicts a woman, taken from three-quarters on a dark background, who wears an Arabesqued dress and a large, plumed hat in the contemporary fashion, which appears in variants in paintings by Cranach as well as by other German artists of the time.
Caritas (Lucas Cranach the Elder) (1540)
Caritas is an oil on panel painting by German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder. The painting is kept in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp.
Cranach, who has been credited as the most successful German artist of his time, was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits of German princes, his collection of nudes, and his portraits of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, whose cause he embraced with enthusiasm. He was a close friend of Martin Luther. Cranach also painted religious subjects, first in the Catholic tradition, and later trying to find new ways of conveying Lutheran religious concerns in art. He continued throughout his career to paint nude subjects drawn from mythology and religion.
The Martyrdom of Saint Barbara (Lucas Cranach the Elder) (1510)
The Martyrdom of Saint Barbara is an early 16th century painting by German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.
The work depicts the martyrdom of Saint Barbara, a Greek princess who was executed by her heathen father Dioscorus at the behest of Roman officials; the execution was in retaliation for Barbara refusing to renounce her Christian faith.
Judgment of Paris (Cranach, New York) (1528)
The Judgment of Paris is a 1528 painting by the German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. It depicts the myth of Paris, Prince of Troy, selecting the fairest goddess from among Minerva, Juno, and Venus. Cranach likely based his depiction on medieval poetry or romances. The painting is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Torgauer Altar (1509)
The Torgauer Altar, Torgau Altarpiece or Altarpiece of the Holy Kinship is a triptych altarpiece painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1509.
The painting includes Joseph, the Virgin, Anna and the child Christ, with Anna's three husbands in the background of the centre panel. The "Holy Kinship" is shown resting in a lavishly decorated room, including marble columns and stone benches.
Adoration of the Shepherds (Lucas Cranach the Elder) (1510)
The Adoration of the Shepherds (German: Anbetung der Hirten) is a c. 1515–1520 oil on panel painting of the Nativity by the German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.
The Adoration of the Shepherds shows a nocturnal scene with Mary bending over the Child in prayer. Joseph is standing over them holding a candle, but the main light source is coming from the crib. The Child lies on a bed of hay that matches his Mother's halo, surrounded by winged cherubs. In the upper left of the frame, a vista to a moonlit landscape reveals on closer inspection to be a scene of the Annunciation to the shepherds with Gabriel as the moon and three shepherds in a field. The same three shepherds stand behind a fence on the right side of the painting looking at the Holy Family.