PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS.
Sternenboke, -nTitten in 1609, which runs as
follows — "And the Emperor asked him how he
was called, and he replied that he was called by his
parents Lucas Muller, out of the town of Cranach
i Q Franconia, but on account of his art he was styled
Lucas the Painter, and the Elector of Saxony had
named him, from his native land, Lucas Cranach."
The evidence for the name of Sunder likewise
rests on very slight foundation.
But whatever be his name, he was certainly born at Kronach in the bishopric of Bamberg on the 4th of October, 1472. He is said to have learnt his art from his father, who is supposed also to have been a painter, though none of his works remain. It is not known where his early years were spent, but it is surmised that he lived some time in Gotlia, where he married a certain B:irbara Brengbier, who, although affirmed by tradition to have been extremely ugly, is nevertheless celebrated as having been a most excellent wife and mother. He is stated to have accompanied the Elector Frederick the Wise to the Holy Land in 1493, but this is not certain. In 1504 we find him established at Wittenberg as court painter to Frederick the Wise, who in 1508 bestowed on him a coat of arms and patent of nobility. He was evidently a man of importance in Wittenberg, for he was twice (in 1537 and 1540) elected Burgomaster of the town, where he carried on, besides his large art workshops, a book-printing business and an apothecary's shop. His house in Wittenberg, called the " Adler," was standing till 1871, when it was unfortunately destroyed by fire. In 1509 Cranach was sent by the Elector on an embassy to the art-loving Emperor Maximilian, but nothing is known as to their intercourse, except that he took the portrait of the young Prince, afterwards Charles V. Cranach, however, afterwards executed some of the drawings in what is called 'Maximilian's Prayer-book,' so one may imagine that some relations continued to exist between them. Cranach held the ofSce of court painter to the House of Saxony under three successive Electors, the last being the noble but ill-fated Frederick the Magnanimous, to whom he was so much attached, that after the battle of Miihlberg in 1547, he shared and enlivened his captivity at Augsburg, being also, it is said, instrumental in procuring his release from Charles V. In 1552, when the Elector was at last set free, Cranach, then a very old man, followed his lord to Weimar, where our master died at the age of 80, on the 16th of October, 1553.
Lucas Cranach may be regarded as pre-eminently the painter of the German Refomiation. Although not approaching Diirer and Holbein in intellectual power and aesthetic perfection, he was moved even more deeply than they by the religious influences of the times. The influences of the Renaissance were also at work in his art, as seen by the numerous classical subjects he has depicted so naively; and moreover, there may be traced in it a sort of homely humour, which no doubt caused Kugler to compare him to Hans Sachs. He was the intimate friend of Luther, whom he has several times represented in his pictures, and embracing his doctrine warmly, he endeavoured to set it forth in his art.
His reputed paintings are somewhat unequal in merit, but this is chiefly because many of those ascribed to him are merely atelier-works, done under his direction by his sons and pupils. Among the most important of hie paintings may be mentioned :
Augsburg. Rathkaus, Samson and DelUah. Berlin. Gallery. Tonus and Cupid stung by a Bee. Carlaruhe. The Judgment of Paris. Florence. UJfizi. Adam and Eve. Ooths. Gallery. The Fall and Redemption of Man. Leipsic. The Kepose in Egypt. 1504. (Formerly in the Sciarra Palace, Home.) „ Museum. A Dying Man. Munich. Gallery. Woman taken in Adultery. Petersbrg. Hermitage. Madonna under the Apple-tree. Schneeberg. Stadtkirche. The Crucifixion, Last Supper, &c. {an altar-piece). Weimar. Stadtkirche. CrucLfixion. with portraits of Luther, Melanchthon, find the painter himself, Worlitz. Gothtc House. St. George and the Dragon.
Several of these subjects were treated frequently by Cranach, and replicas of them are to be found in many galleries. It is indeed very difficult to distinguish his works from those of the master now known as the ' Pseudo-Griinewald,' and from those of his son Lucas Cranach the younger. Lucas Cranach the elder, as he is called to distinguish him from his son, always painted in oils on wooden panels. His colouring is warm and rich, but his drawing is usually defective. He excelled in portraiture, and evidently delighted in it, for he often introduces portraits of his friends into hia pictures. His female portraits have a sort of naive grace that renders them very pleasing. There is one by him in the National Gallery of a young girl in elaborate costume, which is entirely characteristic.
He was fond also of drawing birds and animals, and often depicted hunting scenes. His art indeed may be defined as thoroughly national, homely and individual, marked by cheerful fancy and quaint invention, sometimes bordering on caricature. He had three sons, who are believed to have been painters, but only his second son, Lucas Cranach, the younger, acquired any reputation. Cranach usually signed both his paintings and engravings with the crest granted him by the Elector Frederick — a flying dragon with a crown upon its head. He is said to have painted so rapidly that on his tombstone he was described as ' celerrimus pictor.'
But it is as an engraver rather than as a painter that Cranach is best known. Heller describes more than 800 prints by him. These are mostly wood-cuts, but he executed also a few copper-plates. These are now rare, though some of his wood- engravings are often met with. Drawings also by him are to be found in most public collections.
PRINCIPAL COPPER ENGRAVINGS:
The Penitence of St. John Chrysostom. 1509. Three portraits of Luther, dated 1519, 1520, and 1521. Portraits of the Elector Frederick III., with an angel holding a crown of laurel. Portraits of other Electors.
PRINCIPAL WOOD ENGRAVINGS.
Passion of Christ. A series of 15 cuts. The Martyrdom of the Apostles. 1549. 12 „ Christ and the Apostles. 14 „ The Wittenberg Hagiology. 1509. 119 „ Passional Christi et Autichristi. 1521. 26 „ Hortulus Animae. 33 ,. Adam and Eve in Paradise surrounded by animals. (B. 1.) The Repose in Egypt, with dancing angels. (B. 4.) Christ and the Samaritan Woman. (B. 22.) Temptation of St. Anthony. (B. 56.) St. Christopher. {B. 58.)
St. Jerome in the Desert. (B. 63.)
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