Lucas Cranach the Elder was a prominent painter and printmaker and a member of the Wittenberg court of Prince Frederic III, elector of Saxony. Cranach also held a patent to print books and to sell medicines through his apothecary. In Wittenberg, Cranach befriended Martin Luther, beginning a lifelong collaboration. Cranach produced numerous portraits of Luther, illustrated and printed the first editions of Luther’s New Testament, and aided in producing propaganda for the Reformation, helping to widely disseminate visual and printed materials in favor of the movement. Ever politic, Cranach also maintained a strong working relationship with the Catholic Church.
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Lucas Cranach oversaw the work of a prolific workshop that produced thousands of prints, engravings, and paintings. A talented politician and businessman—he was on the city council of Wittenberg and served as mayor for three terms—he was able to work for both Catholic and Reform clients, making him one of the wealthiest citizens of Wittenberg. As the court painter, his largest output was in portraits, and these images provide us with a visual record of the nobles, ruling classes, and the Catholic and Protestant leaders of his day.
Cranach was present at Luther and Katharina von Bora’s betrothal festival and godfather to their first child. Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German theologian, professor, composer, monk, and writer. Luther is famous for his “Ninety-FiveTheses” and the resulting formation of the Protestant Church and for his translation of the Bible into the vernacular German from the original Greek and Hebrew. After the publication of his “Ninety-FiveTheses” made him a heretic, he was named an outlaw by the Holy Roman Emperor, and was placed into hiding at Wartburg, where he was known as “Junker Jörg.” Cranach the Elder produced a woodcut and at least two paintings of the “Junker Jörg” subject as proof of Luther’s health and vitality. This painting, done in 1537, is a pastiche (copy) of earlier Cranach paintings and was likely executed by the artist’s workshop under his supervision.