Compton Verney, Warwickshire
14 March - 14 June 2020
Lot and his Daughters (detail; c. 1530), Lucas Cranach the Elder. Photo: © Compton Verney
Lot and his Daughters ( c. 1530), Lucas Cranach the Elder. Photo: © Compton Verney
Cupid Complaining to Venus (1526), Lucas Cranach the Elder. Photo: © National Gallery, London
The archetypal Renaissance man, Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472 – 1553) was one of the most successful German artists of all time.
Cranach’s paintings of German nobility and the leaders of the Protestant Reformation made him a highly sought after portraitist in his own time, while today he is best known for his seductive paintings of the female nude, which beautifully express temptation and its consequences. Cranach was also a talented entrepreneur, founding a successful publishing business and producing powerful woodcut illustrations for Luther’s translation of the bible.