Adam and Eve in Paradise

WALL LABEL: Adam and Eve in Paradise, 1509

The German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder was court painter to Friedrich the Wise and to successive Electors of Saxony from 1505. The great religious reformer Martin Luther was protected by Friedrich the Wise in 1521, after being declared an outlaw by the Holy Roman Emperor, and Cranach and Luther became friends, with Cranach painting a portrait of Luther in 1529. During Cranach’s long career at the court, he attained recognition for his paintings and prints, these encompassing a wide range of themes, from religious to mythological and secular subjects.

Cranach’s woodcut illustrations were closely linked to the development of the printed book in the mid-fifteenth century, with printing presses flourishing in Nuremberg, Germany, and Venice, Italy. Cranach’s initial interest in the woodcut medium may have been inspired by the remarkable prints of his contemporary Albrecht Dürer, as well as by the Venetian painter–printmaker Jacopo de Barberi, who also served at the court.

Tansy Curtin, Curator of International Art Pre-1980