Stag Hunt of Elector Frederick the Wise
1529 | Lucas der Ältere Cranach
Among Cranach’s duties as saxon court painter was to preserve important scenes of courtly life in his pictures. Here we have a bird’s-eye view of a large hunt in which the deer have been driven to the bend in a river, where their only choice is to go into the water. On the other side, the noble hunters have taken position with their crossbows. We can recognise Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony, Emperor Maximilian I and Elector John the Steadfast.
Among Cranach’s duties as saxon court painter was to preserve important scenes of courtly life in his pictures. Here we have a bird’s-eye view of a large hunt in which the deer have been driven to the bend in a river, where their only choice is to go into the water. On the other side, the noble hunters have taken position with their crossbows. We can recognise Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony, Emperor Maximilian I and Elector John the Steadfast.
Artist:
Lucas der Ältere Cranach (1472 Kronach - 1553 Weimar) DNB
Depiction/Person:
Maximilian I. (1477-1519), seit 1493 deutscher König, 1508 Kaiser (1459 - 1519) DNB
Time:
1529
Object Name
Painting
Culture
German
Material/technology:
Limewood
Dimensions:
80 x 114 cm
Signed
Inscribed on the trunk of the tree in the centre front with the snake with standing wings, dat. 1529
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie
Invs.
Gemäldegalerie, 3560
Provenance
1621 Prague; since 1894 in the gallery