Lucas Cranach the Elder, 'Portrait of Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous', 1509
About the work
Overview
This painting makes up the right panel of a portrait diptych (a painting made of two parts) that depicts two future electors of Saxony, Johann the Steadfast and his son, Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous.
Johann Friedrich was six years old when this portrait was made. Against convention, he was portrayed higher up and closer to the viewer than his father, making him appear larger. He faces the viewer straight on, instead of at a quarter-turn to the frame, as was common in many of Cranach’s portraits (and is demonstrated in the left panel of this diptych).
Cranach painted Johann Friedrich’s portrait throughout his life, although his depictions of the Elector as a thickly set man with receding dark hair bear little resemblance to the angelic blonde child in this portrait.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous
- Artist
- Lucas Cranach the Elder
- Artist dates
- 1472 - 1553
- Part of the group
- Diptych: Two Electors of Saxony
- Date made
- 1509
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 42 × 31.2 cm
- Inscription summary
- Dated
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1991
- Inventory number
- NG6539
- Location
- Room 55
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 16th-century German Frame (original frame)
About this record
If you know more about this work or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
About the group: Diptych: Two Electors of Saxony
Overview
These joined portraits depict two future electors of Saxony, Johann the Steadfast and his son, Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous – Cranach worked as court painter to successive electors from 1505 until his death in 1553. The coats of arms on the back of the right panel help to confirm their identities.
The portraits have complementary colour schemes: the green of the background in the father’s portrait is echoed by the green of his son’s clothing, while the black background in the son’s portrait matches his father’s clothing. Johann Friedrich dominates more of the composition than his father and he faces towards the viewer, even though the convention was to place each sitter at a three-quarter turn toward the other.
The frame is original: paint has been detected on the inner edges of the frame, which suggests that the paintings were made after the wooden panels had been fitted into it.
Works in the group
More works by Lucas Cranach the Elder
