Portrait of Lucas Cranach the Elder

Portrait of Lucas Cranach the Elder is a 1550 oil on panel portrait of Lucas Cranach the Elder. It is inscribed "Aetatis Suae LXXVII". It is held in the Uffizi, in Florence, where it entered as a self-portrait, but was later re-attributed as a painting by his son, Lucas Cranach the Younger, due to stylistic reasons.^[1] It is still in the Uffizi, whilst a copy of it with some variants is now in the Staatkirche in Weimar.

Portrait of Lucas Cranach the Elder
Artist	Lucas Cranach the Younger
Year	1550
Medium	oil paint, panel
Subject	Lucas Cranach the Elder
Dimensions	64 cm (25 in) × 49 cm (19 in)
Location	Dürer and German painting - hall 20
Owner	Augustus II the Strong
Collection	Uffizi
Identifiers	RKDimages ID: 292030

Description

the artist is portrayed on a blue background, in half-length, dressed in black and turned three-quarters to the right. His face, which shows the signs of his old age, is the most intense part of the painting, capable of overshadowing even some errors done in proportion, such as the very small size of his hands and arms. The attention paid to some details is meticulous, such as the soft beard or his hair, rendered with very fine brushstrokes that define one hair at a time. His gaze is slightly frowning, its capable of giving to the portrait the appearance of a great moral dignity and awareness of his social role, as a court painter and privileged interpreter of the Lutheran Reformation, who was in direct contact with Luther himself and with Lutheran princes of his time.^[1]

References

1. "Polo Museale Fiorentino - Catalogo delle opere". polomuseale.firenze.it. Retrieved 2018-08-09.