Lucas Cranach: Drawings & Paintings (Annotated)

Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism

Lucas Cranach: Drawings & Paintings (Annotated) Details

Lucas Cranach the Elder has studied the art of painting from his father as a child, and then with local South German masters as well as his contemporaries Matthias Grünewald. There are as well suggestions that Cranach spent some time in Cranach around 1500. His work attracted the attention of Duke Frederick III of Saxony, who appointed Lucas Cranach in his Courtyard in 1504 as a painter ducalis (the Duke's Artist). At the beginning of his career he was sometimes an artist-decorator, but more often producing portraits and altars, carvings for the Duke. His paintings depicting deer and wild pigs were thought to be strikingly realistic. Before 1508, he painted several altar decorations for the Wittenberg castle church in competition with Albrecht Dürer, Hans Burgkmair, and other famous artists.In 1509, Cranach left for the Netherlands and painted a portrait of Emperor Maximilian. Until then, he signed his works with his initials, and then he was given the right to signed them with a coat of arms granted by his patron. His patrons were strong supporters of Martin Luther, and Cranach used his art as a symbol of the new faith. He has made numerous portraits of Luther, as well as many wood carvings to into the German language Bible used by Luther. Later, the Duke gave him a monopoly on the sale of medicines at Wittenberg, and a patent for a wood printer with exclusive copyright privileges on illustrations in Luther's Bibles.Cranach died 81 years old on October 16, 1553, in Weimar. He had two sons, both artists, and three daughters.

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