
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Portrait of Frederick the Wise, 1530-1535

The extraordinary artistic genius of the great Lucas Cranach the Elder is fully on display in this …

A prolific German Renaissance painter, and engraver, Lucas Cranach may have invented the full-length portrait. Cranach served as painter to the court of Frederick the Wise of Saxony in Wittenberg, where he specialized in portraits with bold compositions and strong colors. He was also responsible for decorative schemes around the court, as well as for tournaments and celebrations; the considerable demands of this work led him to open a workshop and to develop techniques and procedures of standardization that sped up the painting process. A close friend of Martin Luther, Cranach also supervised the printing of Luther’s pamphlets, painted altarpieces for Lutheran churches, and produced portraits of Protestant reformers and princes, as well as designing woodcuts for Luther’s translation of the New Testament.


The extraordinary artistic genius of the great Lucas Cranach the Elder is fully on display in this highly significant portrait. Painted at the height of the artist’s career, the work captures the visage of Frederick the Wise, the Elector of Saxony. It is one of an important series of portraits that Cranach painted of …

A prolific German Renaissance painter, and engraver, Lucas Cranach may have invented the full-length portrait. Cranach served as painter to the court of Frederick the Wise of Saxony in Wittenberg, where he specialized in portraits with bold compositions and strong colors. He was also responsible for decorative schemes around the court, as well as for tournaments and celebrations; the considerable demands of this work led him to open a workshop and to develop techniques and procedures of standardization that sped up the painting process. A close friend of Martin Luther, Cranach also supervised the printing of Luther’s pamphlets, painted altarpieces for Lutheran churches, and produced portraits of Protestant reformers and princes, as well as designing woodcuts for Luther’s translation of the New Testament.