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Portrait of Johann the Steadfast
Lucas Cranach the Elder1509
The National Gallery, London
London, United Kingdom
This portrait of the Elector of Saxony (1468 - 1532) is joined as a diptych with the portrait of his son, 'Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous', who succeeded him as elector in 1532. Both portraits are in the original frames.
The pairing of portraits of father and son is unusual, and may have arisen because the six-year-old Johann Friedrich's mother, Sophia of Mecklenburg, died giving birth to him.
On the back is the family coat of arms. The frame is probably original.
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Details
- Title: Portrait of Johann the Steadfast
- Creator: Lucas Cranach the Elder
- Date Created: 1509
- Physical Dimensions: 41.3 x 31 cm
- Type: Painting
- Medium: Oil on wood
- School: German
- More Info: Explore the National Gallery’s paintings online
- Inventory number: NG6538
- Artist Dates: 1472 - 1553
- Artist Biography: Cranach was one of the leading German painters and printmakers of the early 16th century. As court painter of the Elector of Saxony, the patron of Luther, Cranach is remembered as the chief artist of the Reformation. He painted altarpieces, Lutheran subject pictures and portraits, as well as mythological decorative works and nudes, such as the 'Cupid complaining to Venus' in the Collection. Cranach was named after his native town of Kronach in Upper Franconia. He was probably trained there by his father, Hans. Around 1500 or earlier he travelled through Bavaria to Vienna, where he was briefly active. Early works exemplify the Danube school (see also Altdorfer) in their poetic use of landscape. In 1505 he entered the service of the Electors of Saxony at Wittenberg, becoming a town councillor there in 1519 and burgomaster in 1537 and 1540. In 1550 he was with the Elector John Frederick who was held prisoner in Augsburg. He retired in 1552 to Weimar, leaving his sons, Hans and Lucas the Younger, to carry on his workshop.
- Acquisition Credit: Bought, 1991
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