Portrait of Martin Luther

Gallery 356, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

Portrait of Martin Luther

1555

Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger (German (active Wittenberg) , 1515–1586)

The spread of Martin Luther’s (1483–1546) religious reforms, which led to the Protestant Reformation, generated an increasing demand for his likeness. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553) was a friend of Luther’s, and from the 1520s onward the artist, his workshop, and his son—Lucas Cranach the Younger—painted portraits of the theologian in numerous variations and replicas. This composition is based on a gray-haired depiction of Luther that Lucas Cranach the Elder first produced in the late 1530s.

Gallery 356, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Object Details

Title:

Portrait of Martin Luther

Date:

1555

Artist:

Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger (German (active Wittenberg) , 1515–1586)

Medium:

Oil on panel

Dimensions:

14 1/16 x 9 1/8 inches (35.7 x 23.2 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

John G. Johnson Collection, 1917

Accession Number:

Cat. 740

Geography:

Made in Germany, Europe

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Gallery 356, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

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