The Virgin and Child Standing
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 7/16 × 5 1/8 in. (6.2 × 13 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1927
Accession Number
27.54.74
Tags
Art Historical Context
Lucas Cranach the Elder, a leading figure of the Northern Renaissance in Germany, created this delicate woodcut of the Virgin and Child. Active during the early sixteenth century, Cranach served as court painter to the electors of Saxony and closely associated with the Protestant Reformation through his friendship with Martin Luther. His prints often blended graceful, elongated figures with a keen attention to line and texture, making religious subjects both accessible and visually compelling. As a woodcut, this work exemplifies an important medium of its time. The technique allowed artists t...
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...