Four themes let you explore the universe Lucas Cranach
LUCAS CRANACH, A EUROPEAN ARTIST
The exhibition highlights the European dimension of Lucas Cranach, whose art was influenced by Dürer and by Flemish and Italian artists.
THE COURT, THE NETHERLANDS AND ITALY
As well as his artistic commissions, Cranach also took on a diplomatic role: he was court painter to Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony. At the Duke’s behest, Cranach went to the court of Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands, where he met many artists and humanists. It was here in this dazzling society that he perfected his artistic style. He introduced a more refined elegance into his works, and turned his attention to new themes, like his half-length images of strong, virtuous women.
A PAINTER OF FEMALE BEAUTY
The nude occupied a central place in Cranach’s work. His highly sensual, female figures, sometimes borrowed from classical antiquity (Venus, Diana, etc), sometimes from Christian culture (Eve), are endowed with a beauty that is at times quite disturbing. And he developed a canon of beauty that is clearly at odds with the classical ideal of the Renaissance.
These equivocal images, mixing eroticism with a moral message, often with a complex meaning, were highly acclaimed in their time.
A SUPPORTER OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION
The exhibition emphasises the richness and originality of Cranach’s artistic career – a career punctuated by significant encounters. Thanks to his talents as a portrait painter we have accurate representations of the leading figures of his time.
A committed supporter of the Reformation within a very short time, Cranach became very involved in helping to spread the new doctrine, using his artistic skills for visual propaganda, which was then widely circulated through engravings.
Through this, he contributed to the development of a new Protestant iconography without, however, giving up his commissions from the Catholic church.
