Kronach 1472-Weimar 1553 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,   Related Paintings of Lucas Cranach :. | Madonna with Child with Young John the Baptist | Portrait of Martin Luther | Fudith with the head of Holofernes | Stag hunt of Elector Frederick the Wise | Prinsessa of Saxony |
Related Artists:
CARRACCI, Lodovico
Italian Baroque Era Painter, 1555-1619
GRAMATICA, Antiveduto
Italian Baroque Era Painter, 1571-1626 Italian painter. He was from a Sienese family. According to Baglione, his parents were journeying from Siena to Rome when his mother went into labour and gave birth to him at an inn, an inconvenience that had been foreseen ('antiveduto') by his father and led to his unusual name. For a brief period he was a pupil of Giandomenico Angelini ( fl 1550-1600), under whom he painted small-scale works, mainly on copper. His prolific production of devotional paintings, portraits and copies of portraits won him swift success; in 1593 he became a member of the Accademia di S Luca and in 1604 of the Congregazione dei Virtuosi. His early portraits have not been identified; they included highly popular copies of a series of Famous Men then at the Villa Medici, works that Caravaggio probably also copied when he worked for some months in his studio on his arrival in Rome in 1592
ZUCCARO Federico
Italian Mannerist Painter, ca.1542-1609 ..Painter, draughtsman and writer, brother of (1) Taddeo Zuccaro. Having been invited to Rome by his brother, between 1555 and 1563 he worked with Taddeo on various projects including the Villa Farnese at Caprarola and the Pucci Chapel in Trinit? dei Monti, Rome. Many of Federico's drawings for both commissions show Taddeo's influence. According to Vasari, Taddeo supervised his brother's early work, which created friction between them. In 1558, for example, when they collaborated on painting the fa?ade of the house of Tizio da Spoleto with scenes from the Life of St Eustace, Taddeo retouched some of his brother's paintings, so offending Federico. Already at 18 Federico was commissioned to paint many works at the Vatican: the Transfiguration, the Marriage at Cana and other scenes from the Life of Christ for the decorations (part destr.) of the Casino of Pius IV;