German painter (b. 1472, Kronach, d. 1553, Weimar). German painter and engraver. The son of a painter, he settled in Wittenberg c.1504 and was court painter successively under three electors of Saxony. There he maintained a flourishing workshop and was twice burgomaster. Cranach was a close friend of Martin Luther, whose doctrine he upheld in numerous paintings and woodcuts, and he has been called the painter of the Reformation. He was a rapid and prolific painter, and the work turned out by his studio is uneven in quality. Naïve and fanciful, often awkward in draftsmanship, it has, nonetheless, freshness and originality and a warm, rich palette. His portraits are particularly successful. Among his best-known works are Repose in Egypt (Gemäldgalerie, Staatliche Mus., Berlin-Dahlem); Judgment of Paris (Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe); Adam and Eve (Courtauld Inst., London); and Crucifixion (Weimar). The latter contains figures of Luther and Cranach. His many famous protraits include those of Elector John Frederick and Self-Portrait (Uffizi). Cranach was also an accomplished miniaturist. He produced a few copperplates and designs for woodcuts. His son and pupil Lucas Cranach, the Younger, 1515C86,   Related Paintings of CRANACH, Lucas the Elder :. | Hunt in Honour of Charles V at the Castle of Torgau ghj | Portraits of Johann I and Frederick III the wise, Electors of Saxony dfg | Adam and Eve 03 | Portraits of Henry the Pious, Duke of Saxony and his wife Katharina von Mecklenburg dfg | The Judgment of Paris df |
Related Artists:
Augsburger Schule
painted Allegory of Remorselessness in between 1580(1580) and 1600(1600)
Oliver Dennett Grover
American, 1861-1927
ZAIS, Giuseppe
Italian painter, Venetian school (b. 1709, Canale d'Agordo, d. 1789, Venezia)