German painter (b. 1472, Kronach, d. 1553, Weimar). German painter and engraver. The son of a painter, he settled in Wittenberg c.1504 and was court painter successively under three electors of Saxony. There he maintained a flourishing workshop and was twice burgomaster. Cranach was a close friend of Martin Luther, whose doctrine he upheld in numerous paintings and woodcuts, and he has been called the painter of the Reformation. He was a rapid and prolific painter, and the work turned out by his studio is uneven in quality. Naïve and fanciful, often awkward in draftsmanship, it has, nonetheless, freshness and originality and a warm, rich palette. His portraits are particularly successful. Among his best-known works are Repose in Egypt (Gemäldgalerie, Staatliche Mus., Berlin-Dahlem); Judgment of Paris (Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe); Adam and Eve (Courtauld Inst., London); and Crucifixion (Weimar). The latter contains figures of Luther and Cranach. His many famous protraits include those of Elector John Frederick and Self-Portrait (Uffizi). Cranach was also an accomplished miniaturist. He produced a few copperplates and designs for woodcuts. His son and pupil Lucas Cranach, the Younger, 1515C86,   Related Paintings of CRANACH, Lucas the Elder :. | Adam and Eve 05 | Adam and Eve 07 | Portrait of Anna Cuspinian (detail) dfg | A Prince of Saxony dfg | Portrait of a Man dfg |
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Georg Melchior Kraus
(26 July 1737, Frankfurt am Main - 5 November 1806, Weimar) was a German painter. A student of Johann Heinrich Tischbein, he was also a teacher himself (his pupils included Ferdinand Jagemann), as well as an entrepreneur and friend of Goethe. He was a co-founder of the Ferstliche freie Zeichenschule Weimar with Friedrich Justin Bertuch in 1776.
Samuel Prout
English Painter, 1783-1852 was an English water-colour painter. He was born at Plymouth, and spent whole summer days, in company with Benjamin Haydon, drawing the quiet cottages, rustic bridges and romantic watermills of the beautiful valleys of Devon. He made a journey through Cornwall to try his hand in furnishing sketches for Britton's Beauties of England. In 1803 he moved to London, where he stayed until 1812. In London, Prout saw new possibilities, and endeavoured to correct and improve his style by studying the works of the rising school of landscape. To earn a living, he painted marine pieces for Palser the printseller, took students, and published drawing books for learners. He was one of the first to use lithography in his artwork. It was not however until about 1818 that Prout discovered his niche. Happening time to make his first visit to the Continent, and to study the quaint streets and market-places of continental cities, he suddenly found himself in a new and enchanting province of art. His eye caught the picturesque features of the architecture, and his hand recorded them with skill. The composition of his drawings was exquisitely natural; their colour exhibited "the truest and happiest association in sun and shade"; the picturesque remnants of ancient architecture were rendered with the happiest breadth and largeness, with the heartiest perception and enjoyment of their time-worn ruggedness
king Charles Bird
American portrait Painter, 1785-1862 American painter. He was encouraged to paint by his grandfather, Nathaniel Bird (d 1796), an amateur painter, and took lessons with Samuel King, a portrait painter. In 1800-05 he was apprenticed in New York to Edward Savage, whose curious studio-museum and period of study abroad with Benjamin West impressed him deeply.