Spotted Wild Boar
Lucas Cranach the Elderc. 1535
Renaissance and Reformation. German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach
Hunting big game, including wild boar, was a privilege of the aristocracy and was one of the most popular sporting pleasures at the court of Saxony. The bagged game was considered a trophy, which might explain the individualized depiction of the animals. In addition to this depiction of an unusually spotted and a grayish-brown wild boar, the Kupferstich-Kabinett in Dresden once possessed another drawing, lost during World War II, of a black wild boar of the same size and technique (inv. no. C 2175) from the Cranach workshop’s collection of model drawings. As court painter to the elector, Lucas Cranach was commissioned to produce a number of hunting pictures, for which such naturalistic animal studies may have served as preparation.
- Title: Spotted Wild Boar
- Creator: Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder
- Date Created: c. 1535
- Physical Dimensions: 16.4 × 24.1 cm
- Technique and Material: Pen and brown ink, brush with gouache and watercolors, white heightening
- Provenance: Old inventory, first listed in the inventory in 1865
- Museum: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Kupferstich-Kabinett
- Inv.-No.: C 2174
- ISIL-No.: DE-MUS-845516
- External Link: http://www.skd.museum/de/museen-institutionen/residenzschloss/kupferstich-kabinett/
- Copyright: Photo © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Kupferstich-Kabinett/ Herbert Boswank; Text © Renaissance and Reformation: German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach, A Cooperation of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Catalogue of the Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Nov 20, 2016 – March 26, 2017, Munich: Prestel, 2016; cat. no. 91 / Claudia Schnitzer
- Catalogue: https://prestelpublishing.randomhouse.de/book/Renaissance-and-Reformation/Stephanie-Buck/Prestel-com/e504919.rhd
- Artist Dates: 1472 Kronach–1553 Weimar
- Artist Biography: Cranach, whose name derived from his birthplace, Kronach, was presumably trained by his father. Around 1502 Cranach was staying in Vienna, where he produced his first documented works. In 1504 Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony called him to his court in Wittenberg, where Cranach would head a very large, extremely productive workshop. The Cranach factory was active in prints as well as paintings. His many portraits of Martin Luther—the Cranach and Luther families were close friends—and his altarpieces with decidedly Reformist programs made Cranach and his memorable style the epitome of Protestant visual culture. Nevertheless, Cranach was also active for Luther’s adversaries, such as Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg.
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