Cranach im Exil. Aschaffenburg um 1540: Zuflucht, Schatzkammer, Residenz, and: Lucas Cranach the Elder: Painting Materials, Techniques and Workshop Practice (review)

The historiography of Lucas Cranach the Elder extends back to the sixteenth century. Throughout these centuries of research, the range of literature tends to be remarkably narrow. Scholars have rehearsed almost ad nauseum the details of this artist’s biography, from his origins in the city of Kronach, to the brief period of time he spent in Vienna, to his service to the Electors of Saxony from 1505 until his death in 1553. Much scholarship hails Cranach as an exemplary German artist and identifies him as the second painter of the German Renaissance after Albrecht Dürer. Other scholars celebrate him as the paradigmatic artist of the Reformation and personal friend of Martin Luther. Scholars have puzzled over this artist’s ability to serve Catholic patrons despite his close, personal relationship with Luther and his supporters, and they have analyzed his remarkably productive workshop (approximately 1,000 paintings survive) in light of what seems to be a decline in the quality of his art as his output grew. Two new books add fresh insights into Cranach’s historiography: Cranach im Exil, an exhibition catalogue edited by Gerhard Ermischer and Andreas Tacke, and Lucas Cranach the Elder: Painting Materials, Techniques and Workshop Practice by Gunnar Heydenreich.

Following on his earlier work (Der katholische Cranach [Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1992]), Andreas Tacke, together with the other contributors to this handsome volume, problematizes the received association of Cranach with the Reformation by showcasing his service to Catholic patrons, specifically to Albrecht of Brandenburg, the powerful Archbishop of Mainz. The essays in this catalogue also attempt to rehabilitate the reputation of Cardinal Albrecht, one of Martin Luther’s most famous adversaries.

Albrecht of Brandenburg employed leading artists, including Cranach, Matthias Grünewald, and Hans Baldung Grien, among others, to decorate his Stiftskirche in the city of Halle. When he was forced to flee Halle during the Lutheran Reformation, Albrecht brought his massive collection with him to Aschaffenburg. The essays, catalog entries, and sumptuous illustrations present art from Albrecht’s collection, including the reassembled Altar of Mary Magdalene of 1520–25.

Essays and catalogue entries represent a range of topics. The first essay, “Cranach im Exil – Porträt einer bewegten Epoche” by Gerhard Ermischer, introduces Albrecht of Brandenburg, his magnificent art collection, the historical circumstances of mid-sixteenth-century Germany, including the Lutheran Reformation. This informative essay exemplifies many of the objectives of the exhibition, to present Albrecht in the complexity of his context and to use him as a case study of the transformations of sixteenth-century Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and Reformation.

A further objective of the catalogue and exhibition, and of this essay in particular, is to depict Cranach as an artist who served Catholics as well as Lutherans, and whose professional associations should not be anachronistically tied to his personal allegiances. This important point is worth reiterating given the preponderance of scholarship that situates Cranach as the paradigmatic Lutheran artist. However, the wealth of scholarship on Cranach as a Lutheran artist does not receive the attention it deserves. Without more complete and representative bibliography and discussion of historiography, the reader wonders why it is necessary to concentrate so intensely on Cranach’s work for Albrecht of Brandenburg. The notes do not acknowledge any significant English-language scholarship, nor do they recognize much important German scholarship. While it is certainly reasonable to claim that Cranach served the old church more than scholars have allowed heretofore, this claim would be far stronger if it were backed up with more attention to Cranach’s historiography and to the very pictures that have justified his identification as a Lutheran...