Lucas Cranach the Younger

Lucas Cranach the Younger (German, Wittenberg 1515–1586) was a German painter and designer of woodcuts, son of Lucas Cranach the Elder. His visually compelling style captured the ideas and issues that shaped the Reformation. His work was so closely modelled on that of his father that distinguishing the late style of Lucas the Elder from the early works of his son remains in most cases hypothetical. Having first been his father’s pupil and assistant, he remained in the workshop his entire career. Lucas the Younger became the head of the workshop in 1550, when his father left Wittenberg to join the deposed Saxon elector John Frederick in Augsburg. On his father’s death in 1553, he became sole proprietor and chief artist of this family enterprise. In 1541 he married Barbara Brück, the daughter of the electoral chancellor, Gregor Brück. Widowed in 1550, he then married Magdalene Schurff, a niece of Philip Melanchthon, the following year. Lucas the Younger also followed his father’s footsteps into high civic office. From 1549 through 1568 he served on the Wittenberg city council, rising first to chancellor and then to Burgermeister (mayor).