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CRANACH, Lucas the Elder
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Portraits_of_Johann_I_and_Frederick_III_the_wise,_Electors_of_Saxony_dfg
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1533
Oil_on_wood,_20_x_15_cm_(each)
Galleria_degli_Uffizi,_Florence
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CRANACH,_Lucas_the_Elder
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Portraits of Johann I and Frederick III the wise, Electors of Saxony dfg
CRANACH, Lucas the Elder57.jpg
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1533
Oil on wood, 20 x 15 cm (each)
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
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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,
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