CRANACH, LUCAS, THE ELDER

born 1472, Cranach, bishopric of Bamberg [now Kronach, Ger.] died Oct. 16, 1553, Weimar, Saxe-Weimar original name Lucas Mller leading painter of Saxony, and one of the most important and influential artists in 16th-century German art. Among his vast output of paintings and woodcuts, the most important are altarpieces, court portraits and portraits of the Protestant Reformers, and innumerable pictures of womenelongated female nudes and fashionably dressed ladies with titles from the Bible or mythology. Additional reading Biographies are Christian Schuchardt, Lucas Cranachs des lteren Leben und Werke, 3 vol. (185170); Kurt Glaser, Lukas Cranach, 2nd ed. (1923); H. Ludecke, Lukas Cranach der ltere: Der Knstler und seine Zeit (1953), a Marxist interpretation; and Friedrich Thone, Lucas Cranach der Aeltere (1965).Studies of his works include Max J. Friedlnder and Jakob Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, rev. ed. (1978), a catalog with 368 illustrations; Theodor L. Girshausen, Die Handzeichnungen Lukas Cranachs des ltern (1937); Jakob Rosenberg, Die Zeichnungen Lukas Cranachs (1960); Eduard Flechsig, Cranachstudien (1900), an important contribution on the woodcuts of the Cranach circle; W. Scheidig, Katalog der Lukas-Cranach-Ausstellung Weimar und Wittenberg (1953), containing Cranach's woodcuts and copperplate engravings as well as woodcut book illustrations of the Cranach circle; and Johannes Jahn, Lucas Cranach als Graphiker (1955), an evaluation of Cranach's illustrations to about 1520. Major Works: St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata (c. 1502; Gemldegalerie der Akademie der Bildenden Knste, Vienna); St. Jerome in Penitence (1502; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna); Christ on the Cross (1503; Alte Pinakothek, Munich); Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1504; Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin); St. Catherine Altarpiece, right wing (1506; Gemldegalerie, Dresden, Ger.); The Holy Kinship (c. 151012; Gemldegalerie der Akademie der Bildenden Knste); Duke Henry the Pious and Duchess Katharina von Mecklenburg (1514; Gemldegalerie); Virgin and Child with St. Anne (c. 151520; Alte Pinakothek); The Nativity (c. 151520; Gemldegalerie); A Prince of Saxony and A Princess of Saxony (c. 151618; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.); Reclining River Nymph at the Fountain (1518; Museum der Bildenden Kunste, Leipzig); Martin Luther as St. George (c. 1521; Kunstsammlungen, Weimar, Ger.); David and Bathsheba (1526; Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz); Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg as St. Jerome (1526; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla.); Adam and Eve (1526; Courtauld Institute Galleries, London); Portrait of Dr. J. Scheyring (1529; Muses Royaux des Beaux Arts, Brussels); The Stag Hunt of the Elector Frederick the Wise (1529; Kunsthistorisches Museum); Paradise (1530; Kunsthistorisches Museum); The Close of the Silver Age (?) (c. 1530; National Gallery, London); Apollo and Diana in a Wooded Landscape (1530; Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz); Venus and Cupid (c. 1530; Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz); The Judgment of Paris (1530; Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Ger.); Hercules and Antaeus (c. 1530; private collection, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Ger.); Feast of Herod (1531; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Conn.); The Old Lover (1531; Gemldegalerie der Akademie der Bildenden Knste); The Payment (1532; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm); Venus (1532; Stdelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main); Self-Portrait (1550; Uffizi, Florence).