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LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER
(German, 1472-1553)
In 1505 he was at Wittenberg and by 1508 he had become court painter to the
Electors of Saxony, a position he held under three successive Electors. He was
ennobled, served as burgomaster and ran a large workshop which combined a studio,
an apothecary shop and a printing and bookselling establishment. He became a personal
friend of Matrin Luther and many of his woodcuts were designed to promote the Protestant
cause. Cranach's sons, Hans (d. 1537) and Lucas the Younger (1515-86), continued his
workshop and his work is thus often hard to identify. Religious paintings,
particularly madonnas depicted in landscapes, often with birds and animals in
the foreground, survive to show the same love of detail as those of the Danube
school, [e.g. Madonna and Child]. His portraits, those of Luther, Duke Henry
of Saxony and his Duchess are important documents of the time and some are among
the first full-length portraits.
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