Wittenberg Printmaking History

The home of Lucas Cranach and his workshop was a dream destination for me.

Wittenberg Castle, home of the patron of Cranach

my sister on the streets of Wittenberg

Map of the center of Wittenberg

The Elector of Saxony, Frederick the Wise, hired Lucas Cranach to be his court painter in the early 1500's. Cranach made his entry into that employment by preparing the hunt fields (trapping and sealing exits for the animals) and then painting very quickly the trophies and catches for all involved. He was very quick and able to convey a sense of abundance in his souvenir paintings so that he soon was in high demand by all the participants. That caught notice of the Elector. Once hired as the official court painter,  ( a position he kept through out the life of Frederick the Wise and his two successors), Cranach's responsibilities increased tremendously. Not only was he in charge of the castle decor, documenting historic events, embellishing and highlighting the nobility of the Saxon family by placing them in scenes of biblical and mythological settings, but he designed the fall and spring uniforms for the staff, created the themes for entertainment, decorated all horses, wagons, and squares for the pageants and tournaments, designed the wedding beds, painted alter pieces, murals and portraits, worked as ambassador and politician and printed pamphlets for both the Roman church authorities and, most famously, Martin Luther and the reformation.

 

 

Cranach was awarded a family seal of a winged serpent to show all the world how amazingly fast a painter, Pictorus Cellerimus, Cranach was!

 

 

The Cranach seal on his press

me inside Cranach printing office

The workshop is now an art school, exhibition space with an apparent resident printmaker. It was great to be able to stand in the space and smell the ink!