arts, books, other reviews
art
early reformers to the Book of the apoca- clear-cut categories in the early sixteenth
lypse. Cranach’s image of the destruction of century. in the first place, it is anachronis-
Babylon clearly uses rome as its model, and tic to describe anyone as a ‘Protestant’ in
the whore of Babylon sports the triple tiara. 1509, and furthermore, although ‘friedrich
CRANACH whilst this was not the first translation of did obstinately defend Luther against his
The royal academy of arts Scripture into German, it is important to enemies’, says Diarmaid MacCulloch, ‘he
8 March–8 June 2008 remember that it sold about 80,000 copies remained a traditionalist in religion, who
admission £8 in the three years from 1522–5, in spite of never saw the point of Luther’s crisis of
its costing, as Luther himself pointed out, conscience’ [Reformation: Europe’s House
take my advice. Go to the royal acad- the price of a horse. Divided, allen Lane, 2003].
emy, march past the people queuing for the
absurd ‘from russia’ exhibition, and stag-
ger upstairs to the Sackler wing, where you
will find a gem of an exhibition of paint-

it is worth pondering the decidedly
non-biblical scene which this triptych of
‘The Holy Kinship’ portrays. There is a
medieval legend that St anne, mother of
ings by Lucas Cranach. Curiously, none of the Blessed Virgin, was twice widowed
the people queuing for the russians seem and thrice married, her second and third
the least bit interested in the work of this husbands being the fathers of the ‘other’
renaissance painter (1472–1553) who was Marys (not Magdalen) at the empty tomb.
in his mid-forties when Martin Luther The three men stand together on a balcony,
nailed his 95 theses to the church door in the middle figure being modelled on the
wittenberg. Holy roman Emperor, Maximilian, with
Not that i want to make it hard work for friedrich portrayed in the left-hand panel
you, but a little reformation history will as the husband of one of the Marys. we
come in handy as you stroll through these should bear in mind that had Maximilian
five easily-digestible rooms. Luther, you and his successor, Charles V, not been so
see, was a mate of Cranach, and became tied up trying to prevent the ottoman
his daughter’s godfather in 1520, the year Empire from overrunning Christendom,
Luther was condemned for heresy. Cra- they would probably have dealt with the
nach was mayor of wittenberg for a time, apparently much smaller problem of Prot-
This guide is given out free to teachers and full-time students
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in 1525. He owned an apoth- Let us get back to the art, though. room
ecary in the city (useful for making paint), 3 presents us with the humour of the ill-
and a printing press (useful for making But let us return briefly to the days before matched couples, and the beauty of por-
propaganda). Luther didn’t say ‘Here i stand, i can do no traits of a young man and woman. Here too
He painted a number of portraits of other’. when you enter this exhibition, you is a gripping painting of the archbishop
Luther, including a particularly fine one will see on your right a moving crucifixion of Brandenburg, Cardinal albrecht, who,
here, dating from 1525, Luther looking scene in a slightly unfamiliar pattern, with even by 1526, clearly didn’t find Cranach
strong, rugged and almost trustworthy. the crosses of the two criminals facing in too dodgy to commission; neither was
They have hung it next to a shiftier one towards Jesus, the taunter on a black cross, Cranach too scrupulous to decline work
from 1521 of Luther in disguise, having the penitent thief on a white cross, so for Luther’s great theological and politi-
been given protection by friedrich the that we can almost hear the conversation cal opponent. The portrait itself depicts
wise, the Elector of Saxony, who was an that St Luke records taking place between the Cardinal as St Jerome, in the company
important patron not only of Luther, but them and the Lord. images of the saints (in his study) not only of his lion, but all
also of Cranach and Dürer. During his keep coming back: the Martyrdom of St manner of other wildlife.
time disguised as ‘Junker Georg’, he began Catherine (1505) in room 1, and again in Such beautifully painted animals come
his Protestantized translation of the New room 2 (1515), and of St John the Baptist round again in the next room, in Apollo and
testament into High German, for which (also 1515), and a fabulous pair of tiny por- Diana, and in that famous Adam and Eve,
Cranach provided woodcut engravings. traits of Ss Peter and Paul. in room 2, there which you might know from the credits
The exhibition has a copy of this ‘Septem- is a delightful Nativity scene, with half a for ‘Desperate Housewives’. all these date
ber testament’ open at one of the revelation dozen putti almost crowding the Lord out from 1526, as does my favourite picture of
illustrations, of which there are 21, in spite of his crib. in the light of the candle in St the exhibition: David and Bathsheba, with
of the somewhat ambivalent attitude of the Joseph’s hand, we see illuminated not only Bathsheba fully dressed in elaborate frock
his grizzly face, but also the red cloak of and wide-brimmed hat, with only her feet
one of the shepherds. naked, being bathed. This is nevertheless
we might also raise a wry smile at the sufficiently stimulating to cause David,
main attraction of room 2: the torgau watching from the palace roof whilst non-
altarpiece of 1509, which was commis- chalantly playing his harp, to send Uriah
sioned by friedrich the wise, described in the Hittite to his death in battle.
the royal academy magazine as a ‘Protes- The larger pictures of the last room appeal
tant’. This shows the danger of looking for less, but here too are the smaller paintings
24
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newdirections
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May 2008
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