Silver Statuette of St. James the Less, from the Wittenberg Reliquaries
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 3/4 × 2 1/8 in. (12 × 5.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1927
Accession Number
27.54.56
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder a silver statuette of St. James the Less, one of Twelve Apostles often distinguished as "the Less" to differentiate him from St. James the Greater. Produced in Wittenberg, the heart of the Protestant Reformation, the print is part of a series documenting the lavish reliquaries—ornate containers for holy relics—in the collection of the Saxon electors. Measuring just 4 3/4 × 2 1/8 inches, its intimate scale made it ideal for dissemination through books or pamphlets, a hallmark of Renaissance print culture. Cranach (1472–1553), a leading German Re...
About the Artist
Lucas Cranach the Elder · 1472–1553
Lucas Cranach the Elder (c. 1472-1553) was one of the most prominent German Renaissance painters and a key artistic figure of the Protestant Reformation. Born in Kronach, Franconia, to the painter Hans Maler, Cranach began his career in Vienna around 1502, where he became one of the founders of the Danube School, a movement characterized by expressive landscape painting and emotional force. His ea...