Luther Portraits Influenced by Cranach

The portrait by Cranach approved by the court of Electoral Saxony became the model for other artists who, however, set their own priorities and portrayed Luther as a highly-educated humanist (above) or – in a boldly "sacralizing" idealization – as a spiritually gifted Doctor of the Church (below).

above: Doctor Martini Luthers offent=||liche verho[e]r zu[e] Worms im[m] Reychstag/||Red vnnd widerred/am.17.tag||Aprilis/im[m] jar.1521.||beschehen, title page, woodcut with letterpress, Augsburg, 1521, unknown artist from Augsburg; source: VD 16 L 3653, Benzing/Claus No. 928, Sächsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, Hist. eccl. E 319,20, http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id350378460.

below: Hans Baldung Grien (1484–1545), Martin Luther unter der Taube des Heiligen Geistes, woodcut, 15.5 cm x 11.5 cm, 1521; source: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett / Jörg P. Anders, https://id.smb.museum/object/1042363, public domain.