Silver Statuette of the Risen Christ, from the Wittenberg Reliquaries
Medium
Woodcut; second state of two (Hollstein)
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 1/4 × 5 1/8 in. (5.7 × 13 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1927
Accession Number
27.54.29
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate woodcut print, *Silver Statuette of the Risen Christ, from the Wittenberg Reliquaries*, captures the triumphant figure of the resurrected Christ as rendered by Lucas Cranach the Elder, a leading German Renaissance artist (1472–1553). Cranach, renowned for his vivid altarpieces and portraits, was a master printmaker whose works often blended religious devotion with emerging Protestant ideals. Here, the small-scale image (just 2¼ × 5⅛ inches) reproduces a silver statuette from the famed Wittenberg reliquaries, evoking the sacred treasures housed in the Saxon city's churches during ...
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...