Lucas Cranach was one of the greatest European painters of the
16th century. More popular and even more successful economically
than his contemporary Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach has probably
had the most enduring influence on Germany’s visual world. As
the leading member of a German family of artists, Lucas Cranach
was a painter, printmaker and book illustrator with a distinctly
individual manner and a highly successful business. He was one
of the most versatile artists of the Renaissance, court artist
to the Saxon electors, a staunch supporter of the Reformation,
and a close friend of Martin Luther. During the course of his
long career, Cranach created striking portraits and expressive
devotional works, propaganda for the Protestant cause, as well
as his own brand of erotic female nude and inventive treatments
of biblical, mythological and classical subjects. A court
painter, he also rubbed shoulders with great figures such as
Martin Luther, while liberating nudity and the power of women in
a sensual, anti