Silver Statuette of St. Thomas, from the Wittenberg Reliquaries

Art Historical Context

Lucas Cranach the Elder’s woodcut captures a silver statuette of St. Thomas from the famed Wittenberg Reliquaries, a collection of sacred objects housed in the Castle Church of Wittenberg. Created as a print rather than a painting, this small sheet—measuring just over five inches tall—translates the gleaming three-dimensional sculpture into crisp black-and-white lines, allowing viewers far from Saxony to study its details. Cranach, court artist to the Electors of Saxony and a key figure of the Northern Renaissance, frequently turned to printmaking to share religious imagery during the early Reformation. The work highlights the era’s growing interest in documenting and circulating devotional treasures through affordable prints. Woodcuts like this one offered precise yet accessible reproductions, bridging the gap between precious metalwork and a broader audience. Though the exact date remains unknown, the image reflects Cranach’s skill in preserving the statuette’s dignified pose and symbolic attributes for posterity. Today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the print invites visitors to consider how sixteenth-century artists used new reproductive techniques to celebrate both saints and the material splendor of church collections.

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...