Collection: Lucas Cranach the Elder

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. Cranach had a large workshop and many of his works exist in different versions; his son Lucas Cranach the Younger continued to create versions of his father's works for decades after his death. He has been considered the most successful German artist of his time.

His style took its cues from Jan Gossaert and Quinten Metsys. Among his canonical works are Portrait of a clean-shaven young man, Prince Johann of Anhalt, The fountain of youth, and Portraits of Johannes and Anna Cuspinian. He worked primarily in religious painting, mythological painting, and portrait painting.

Within his body of work, the Northern Renaissance current is dominant.