CRANACH, LUCAS, one of the most celebrated of the old German painters, was born at Cranach, near Bamberg, in 1472. According to a prevailing custom of the time, he was called after the place of his birth, sometimes also Meister Lucas,-and Lucas Mahler, or Luke the Painter, from which appears to have originated the false name of Lucas Muller; his family name was Sunder.
He was apparently instructed by his father, and in his twenty-third year (1495) was appointed court-painter to the Elector of Saxony ; he served in this capacity the electors Frederic the Wise, John the Constant, and Jobn Frederic the Magnanimous. In consequence of this appointment, Cranach settled in Wittenberg, the residence of Frederic the Wise, lived there forty-six years, and earned wealth and reputation in abundance ; he was owner of several houses there, and was for many years burgomaster of the place. In 1493 he accom panied the elector Frederic the Wise to Palestine to the Holy Sepul chre, and made drawings of all that was remarkable and interesting there. For this elector Cranach painted a aeries of portraits of his ancestors. Cranach was particularly attached to the elector John Frederic, and when that prince was taken prisoner by Charles V., after the battle of Millilberg, in 1547, he interceded with the emperor in his behalf, though to little purpose. Charles was well disposed towards Crane* and requested him to accompany him to the Nether lands. He had a portrait of himself as a boy, by Cranach, at Mechlin, and he asked the painter when it was painted; Cranach informed him when he was eight years old, and that to attract his attention so as to enable him to paint the portrait, a beautifully painted arrow was stuck in the wall opposite to where the emperor sat. The narration pleased the emperor, and he dismissed him with a present of a silver plate of Hungarian ducats, of which however Cranach took very few ; and be persisted in his refusal to accompany the emperor to the Netherlands. He would not leave his prince the elector John Frederic, with whom he shared his five years' imprisonment at Inns bruck, and upon his release in 1552 his eldest son and Cranach were his only companions on his return home. Cranach retired to Weimar, and died there in tho following year, which was the eighty-first of his age, according to the inscription to his memory in the church of St. Jakob.
Cranach was acquainted with many of the principal men of his time and country : he and Luther were intimate friends, and be is said to have brought about the marriage of Luther and Catherine Bora. He appears to have painted Luther's portrait many times, nearly all of which have been engraved, some of them by several engravers. He was acquainted with Melancthon and Bngenhagen. Cranach had several sons and daughters : Johann, the eldest, studied painting in Italy, and died young at Bologna in 1536; another son, Lucas Cranach the younger, was born in 1515, and died in 1586 as burgomaster of Wittenberg, and with the reputation of a distinguished painter. After
Cranach's death a medal was struck at Wittenberg to his honour, with his portrait on one side, and tho arms granted to him by Frederic the Wise In 1508, consisting in a crowned winged serpent upon a gold ground, on the other.
The principal works of Cranach were executed between 1506 and 1540, and they are nearly all still in Germany, especially in Upper Saxony. In the Dresden Gallery there are twelve, in that of Vienna fourteen, at Munich eight, and at Berlin there are twenty-three attributed to him, but they are mostly of small dimensions. His masterpieces are his altarpieces in various Saxon churches, and one of tho principal of these is the large mystical representation of the ' Crucifixion' In tho church of Weimar. It is painted on a large panel, with folding wings, which are painted on both Bides. The composition is scarcely intelligible, and is selected without taste ; it contains portraits of John Frederic and his family, and of Cranach and Luther, which are the beat figures in it ; it is executed with all the laborious care and exactness of the beet German painters of that period. t Cranach was inferior to Albert Dfirer alone iu his best period, and Dtirer's superiority is confined to design and composition. A description of this altarpiece—more remarkable for its execution, size, and singularity, than any other qualities—was published with en gravings by H. Meyer, at Weimar, in 1813.
In colour, and in all respects except elegance of design, unity of effect, and composition, in which he was wholly deficient, Cranach was one of the most distinguished painters of his time ; and in execution he was one of the most laborious artists that have ever lived. He was a good portrait painter, an excellent animal painter, and also a good miniature painter and illuminator of manuscripts. There are several manuscript volumes containing drawings in miniature by Cranach in the library of the University of Jena. Cranaeh is said to have also engraved both in copper and wood, and many works are attributed to him, but with. very little certainty; there are however many prints in both styles after his works, but few of them probably were executed by himself.
There are many German notices of Cranach, more or less detailed, early and recent, and there are at least three distinct lives of him : the first was written by Professor Christ, and published in the 'Acta erudite et curiosa de Franconia,' Nitrnberg. 1726; a second was pub lished in 1761, at Hamburg, by C. E. Reimer, 'Historisch.critieche Abhandlung fiber das Leben und die Werke Lucas Cranachs ;' the last is the very full life by J. Heller, Lucas Cranache Leben und Werke,' Bamberg, 1821 ; and Schadow's Wittenbergs Denkmtiler der Bildnerei, Baukunst, und Malerei,' &c., Wittenberg, 1825, contains descriptions and engravings of works of both the Cranachs. Con cerning the engravings and wood-cuts attributed to Crauach, see Bartsch, 'Peintre-Graveur.'