Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, 1472–1553)
Portrait of Magdalena of Saxony, Wife of Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg
INV-8776
Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, 1472–1553)c. 1529
Portrait of Magdalena of Saxony, Wife of Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg
Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, 1472–1553) →16th Centuryoil on panelpaint
Date
c. 1529
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
59.8 × 41.6 cm (23 9/16 × 16 3/8 in.); Framed: 69.3 × 50.8 × 5.8 cm (27 1/4 × 20 × 2 1/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Kate S. Buckingham
As court painter to the electors of Saxony, Lucas Cranach the Elder developed a portrait style that catered to his patrons’ concern with dynastic continuity by emphasizing their princely status through careful depictions of their sumptuous garb and lavish jewelry. The artist’s attention to such details enabled the identification of this sitter: a signet ring in a companion portrait of her husband in the Philadelphia Museum of Art reveals her to be the Saxon princess Magdalena. A watercolor showing Magdalena in the same richly patterned dress suggests that Cranach made this portrait during his visit to Berlin around 1529.
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