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Overview
A prolific German Renaissance painter, and engraver, Lucas Cranach (1472-1553) may have invented the full-length portrait. Cranach served as painter to the court of Frederick the Wise of Saxony in Wittenberg, where he specialised in portraits with bold compositions and strong colours. He was also responsible for decorative schemes around the court, as well as for tournaments and celebrations; the considerable demands of this work led him to open a workshop and to develop techniques and standardisation that sped up the painting process. A close friend of Martin Luther, Cranach also supervised the printing of Luther’s pamphlets, painted altarpieces for Lutheran churches and produced portraits of Protestant reformers and princes, as well as designing woodcuts for Luther’s translation of the New Testament.
This is the largest and most elaborate of Cranach's engravings and the only one of his nine prints in this medium to show a landscape composition. The reason Cranach made so few engravings is probably connected with his commitments as court painter which did not allow him the time to do it, but he nevertheless quickly developed a sophisticated handling of the burin (engraver's tool). He was clearly technically influenced by Albrecht Dürer, who had engraved the same subject (c. 1496), showing St John similarly relegated to the background. Dürer's engravings of Adam and Eve and the Sea Monster inspired other aspects of the print, although Cranach's concern for the display of texture and detail, rather than on proportion and clarity of design which was of particular importance to Dürer, indicate the differing interests of the two artists.
This relatively unusual subject matter (to modern eyes) lends itself perfectly to Cranach: he depicts the forest landscape in profuse detail, including its bird and animal life, while in the foreground we see a beautiful female nude, an emperor's daughter, nursing her baby. According to the legend, she hid in the cave where the Early Christian hermit St John Chrysostom lived. Although dedicated to a life of Christian asceticism, he could not resist temptation, had sexual intercourse with her and then killed her - so he thought. As penance for this sin he lived like an animal in the wilderness. He is accordingly shown in the background on all fours. The story doesn't end that unhappily, however. The emperor's daughter reappeared with her baby, and we see them here. St John is completely unaware of this miracle.
See:
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/lucas-cranach-the-elder-the-penance-of-saint-john-chrysostom
https://collections.artsmia.org/art/121470/penance-of-st-john-chrysostom-sebald-beham
G. Bartrum, German Renaissance Prints 1490-1550 (London: British Museum, 1995), no. 178.
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art February 2017