Lucas Cranach the Elder, 'Primitive People', 1527-30

Primitive People

Lucas Cranach the Elder

Not on display

About the work

Overview

The subject of this painting has been much debated, but it’s generally thought to show an imagined view of a past and primitive society. Cranach made a number of similar paintings from 1527 to 1535. Since the twentieth century it has been assumed that the origin of the subject lies in a classical source.

Two pairs of men are fighting – violence which is more disturbing for its close proximity to three small children. While one woman watches the fighting with a look of shock on her face, another is staring at something over her shoulder, beyond the picture frame. A third woman seems unaware of – or unconcerned by – the chaos around her. Their primitive behaviour takes place outside the realm of civilised society, represented by the buildings in the distance.

In-depth

The subject of this painting has been much debated, but it is generally thought to show an imagined view of a past and primitive society. Cranach made a number of similar paintings from 1527 to 1535, though other versions show a more densely populated scene.

Two pairs of men are fighting, but the presence of women with children adds a disturbing sense of domesticity to the violent scene. The woman reclining on the grass appears unaware of – or unconcerned by – the fighting behind her, as if Cranach is implying that violence is a common occurrence. The two standing men are separated from the rest of the figures by their darker skin tones and long beards; their weather-beaten appearance and unkempt facial hair could suggest they are the most wild of all the figures. The two other men, lying on the ground with their arms raised defensively, are in positions of vulnerability.

Since the twentieth century it has been assumed that the origin of the subject lies in a classical source, and there are a number of texts that Cranach could have used as inspiration. The Ancient Greek author Hesiod wrote about the evolutionary ages of man – the Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age – and described the people of the Silver Age as weak and uncaring (hence why the painting has been given this title). Cranach most likely knew Hesiod’s work through an adaption of the text by a contemporary German humanist writer. In his Metamorphoses, Roman poet Ovid sets out the deterioration of man from the Golden Age, and describes forest dwellers who live away from the rest of society during the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Despite the similarities with these two texts, Cranach was likely drawing on a number of literary and visual sources, as well as contemporary ideas about and perceptions of earlier civilisations.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Primitive People
Artist: Lucas Cranach the Elder
Artist dates: 1472 - 1553
Date made: 1527-30
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 50.2 × 35.7 cm
Acquisition credit: Mond Bequest, 1924
Inventory number: NG3922
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 20th-century Replica Frame

Provenance

The picture was in the collection of the German businessman George Edward Habich (1818–1901) at Kassel by 1880. Habich was a collector of paintings and other works who spent much of his life in Boston, where he donated works to the Museum of Fine Arts in 1892. This painting was placed on loan to the Königliche Gemäldegalerie, Kassel, from 1880 until April 1892, together with other works owned by Habich. It was lot 86 in the sale of the Habich collection paintings sold by Lempertz, Heberle and Schall at Kassel on 10 May 1892, and was bought by J.P. Richter for Dr Ludwig Mond. It was acquired by the National Gallery in 1924 as part of the Mond Bequest.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Susan Foister, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The German Paintings before 1800’, London 2024; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2010

Cranach: A Different Renaissance

Museo e Galleria Borghese

15 October 2010 - 13 February 2011
2014

Strange Beauty: Masters of the German Renaissance

The National Gallery (London)

19 February 2014 - 11 May 2014
2017

Cranach. Meister - Marke - Moderne

Museum Kunstpalast

8 April 2017 - 30 July 2017

Bibliography

1851

J.C. Schuchardt, Lucas Cranach der Älteren und Werke, 3 vols, Leipzig 1851
1900

E. Flechsig, Cranachstudien, Leipzig 1900
1910

J.P. Richter, The Mond Collection: An Appreciation, London 1910
1932

M.J. Friedländer and J. von Rosenberg, Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach, Berlin 1932
1942

H. Posse, Lucas Cranach der Ältere, Vienna 1942
1959

Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The German Schools, London 1959
1961

L.D. Ettlinger, 'Reflections on German Paintings: Review of Michael Levey, the German School, 1959', The Burlington Magazine, CIII/697, 1961, pp. 132-8
1974

W. Schade, Die Malerfamile Cranach, Dresden 1974
1974

D. Koepplin and T. Falk, Lukas Cranach: Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik, (exh. cat. Kunstmuseum, 15 June - 8 September 1974), Basel 1974
1978

M.J. Friedländer and J. von Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, revised edn, London 1978
1985

A. Smith, Early Netherlandish and German Paintings, London 1985
1994

A.-M. Bonnet, 'Der Akt im Werk Lucas Cranachs. Bedeutung und Spezifität der "nackten Bilder" innerhalb der deutschen Renaissance-Malerei', in C. Grimm, J. Erichsen and E. Brockhoff, Lucas Cranach: Ein Maler-Unternehmer aus Franken, Augsburg 1994, pp. 139-49
1997

R. Billinge et al., 'Methods and Materials of Northern European Painting in the National Gallery, 1400-1550', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XVIII, 1997, pp. 6-52
1999

J. Dunkerton, S. Foister and N. Penny, Dürer to Veronese: Sixteenth-Century Painting in the National Gallery, London 1999
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2002

E. Bierende, Lucas Cranach d. Ä. und der deutsche Humanismus. Tafelmalerei im Kontext von Rhetorik, Chroniken und Fürstenspiegeln, Munich 2002
2003

S. Foister et al., Lucas Cranach: Glaube, Mythologie und Moderne (exh. cat. Bucerius Kunst Forum, 6 April - 13 July 2003), Ostfildern-Ruit 2003
2007

B. Brinkmann, Cranach (exh. cat. Städel Museum, 23 November 2007 - 17 February 2008; Royal Academy of Arts, 8 March - 8 June 2008), London 2007
2007

S. Foister, 'Before the Fall: Adam and Eve and some Mythological Paintings by Cranach', in C. Campbell (ed.), Temptation in Eden: Lucas Cranach's Adam and Eve, London 2007, pp. 46-61
2024

S. Foister, National Gallery Catalogues: The German Paintings before 1800, 2 vols, London 2024

About this record

If you know more about this painting 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.

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You've viewed 6 of 10 works

Lucas Cranach the Elder, 'Primitive People', 1527-30

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Exhibition history

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Lucas Cranach the Elder