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CRANACH, Lucas the Elder: Portrait of Frederick the Wise in Old Age

🖼 Portrait of Frederick the Wise in Old Age, 1527
Oil and tempera on red beechwood
40 × 23 cm
Darmstadt, Germany

Rendered in muted earth tones, an elderly bearded man gazes with penetrating authority, his weathered features captured with unflinching precision. Frederick the Wise, Luther's protector, is immortalized at life's end—a testament to Cranach's role documenting power and faith in Reformation Germany.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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