Wittenberg, 16th century · Court faces, Reformation and public identity

Under the velvets, gold chains and Saxon headdresses, Cranach simplifies each face until it becomes a public identity capable of spanning generations.

The portrait occupies a central place in the career of Lucas Cranach the Elder, court painter in Wittenberg from 1505 and close to Martin Luther. The voters of Saxony used his effigies to affirm alliances, marriages and dynastic continuity; reformers found a stable public image there. Cranach knows how to differentiate a person by the oval of the face, the design of the mouth, the beard or the look, while giving the costume an almost heraldic function. The monochrome backgrounds, often dark, make headdresses, furs, chains and velvets immediately readable. The monochrome backgrounds, often dark, make headdresses, furs, chains and velvets immediately legible. The monochrome backgrounds, often dark, make headdresses, furs, chains and velvets immediately legible. The monochrome backgrounds, often dark, make headdresses, furs, chains and velvets immediately legible. The monochrome backgrounds, often dark, make headdresses, furs, chains and velvets immediately legible. Magdalena of Saxony embodies the princely portrait of childhood; Catherine of Bora and Philipp Melanchthon belong to the circle of the Reformation; Judith with the head of Holofernes deliberately blurs court portrait and biblical role. The large workshop produces multiple versions of Luther and his contemporaries from standardized models. Variations in size, inscription, attribute and quality testify to a collective production, signed by the winged serpent, where resemblance and political diffusion are inseparable. The selection "Portraits of Lucas Cranach the Elder" notably compares Portrait of Magdalena of Saxony and Portrait of Catherine of Bora. His reading favors color.

In Cranach's portraits, the costume does not hide the person: it shows the network of rank, faith and alliance to which his face belongs.