Skip to content

CRANACH, Lucas the Elder: Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam

🖼 Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1530-36
Oil on beech wood
19 × 15 cm
Rotterdam, Netherlands

Soft light models the scholar's contemplative face, rendered with meticulous detail against a dark ground. This portrait captures the Renaissance humanist Erasmus at peak influence, celebrating intellectual authority through Cranach's precise Northern technique.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
tap to buy ↗
We recommend Bookshop.org — supports independent bookstores
We recommend Bookshop.org — supports independent bookstores