CRANACH, Lucas the Elder: Portraits of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon
Paired portraits render two reformers in austere black against gold leaf, their gazes direct and unflinching. Cranach's dual image legitimized Protestant leadership through formal portraiture, cementing Luther and Melanchthon as foundational Reformation figures whose intellectual authority shaped sixteenth-century Europe.
The story of art
tap to buy ↗