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Course: Europe 1300 - 1800 > Unit 6
Lesson 3: Cranach and Altdorfer- Lucas Cranach the Elder, Saint Maurice — a Black saint in the Renaissance
- Cranach, Law and Gospel (Law and Grace)
- Cranach, Adam and Eve
- Cranach's Adam and Eve
- Cranach the Elder, Cupid complaining to Venus
- Cranach the Elder, Judith with the Head of Holofernes
- Altdorfer, the Battle of Issus
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Cranach the Elder, Judith with the Head of Holofernes
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, c. 1530 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- What book in the Bible is this story from?(4 votes)
- It's from the Book of Judith, which is included in some versions of the New Testament and not others. Different Christian denominations have slightly different versions of the texts they consider canonical.(8 votes)
- Cranach seems to repeat this specific woman in his paintings. Is it someone known?(4 votes)
- It isn't known for sure who she is. I think she's really Cranach's female character. Much as Anne Rice has Lestat, Cranach the Elder has Judith. It seems pretty revolutionary.(4 votes)
- I can't shake the feeling that Cranach's paintings had multiple painters involved, like his apprentice or something. The contrast of dimensions said in2:27, the incredible details of her dress and but how his sword is so flat and unsharpened it looks like a popsicle... is that any possibility of this?(4 votes)
- It's possible... I guess it was common for big artists to work with their apprentices or employees (especially if the piece of art was particularly big). Who knows how many unknown people collaborated with famous painters and sculptors we admire.(2 votes)
- Did she clean the sword because it would be covered in blood after she killed him.(1 vote)
- Perhaps this is not the actual killing of that man, after which the sword would be red, but more the display of the head with a (other) sword, moments after he was killed. Although, when they zoom into the sword, one can see some vague red colouring.(6 votes)
- 0:15This story is from the the Book of Judith, which is from the Old Testament Apocrypha, according to the Protestant tradition. In the Catholic tradition, it is part of the Old Testament.(2 votes)
- where would saxony be today(2 votes)
Video transcript
(jazzy music) Male: We're in the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and we're
looking at a Lucas Cranach. This is a painting of Judith
with the Head of Holofernes, which is a biblical story,
an Old Testament story. Female: It's a pretty gruesome story and the painting is pretty gruesome. Males: Holofernes is an Assyrian General that is threatening a Jewish
town where Judith lives. Now, the town is about to give up. They're completely surrounded. But Judith dresses up,
makes herself beautiful, and bravely sneaks into the enemy camp. She makes her way to
the tent of the General. There's some suggestion that
there's seduction involved. Female: Holofernes has a
little too much to drink, and Judith seizes the opportunity
and cuts off his head, brings it back to the town
and the Assyrian army flees. Male: It would seem that
actually Judith brought the head back to Cranach's studio because he paints it with extraordinary amount of detail; so
much so that it suggests that Lucas Cranach had actually
been looking at severed heads. If you look at the neck, you can actually make out the vertebrae. Female: And it's painted
with that attention to detail that we see also in her clothing,
which is really fabulous. This is like a whole
fashion statement here. Male: This is the kind of
clothing that might have been worn in the Saxon court
in the 15th century. In fact, some scholars suggest that this might be a specific princess. Female: That's where Cranach harked, in the Saxon court in Wittenberg. Male: Here, he's rendered
this really interesting contrast between the
violence and this beautiful, strong, brave but refined young woman. Male: You're right, there is a contrast between the gruesomeness of the head and the luxuriousness
of what she's wearing and the passivity of her face. Cranach lavished a lot of
attention on her clothing. Look at the embroidery on her bodice, the stitching on her
sleeves, her necklaces and those dangling pearls. Look down at her gloves
that have slits in them by the knuckles so that
she can bend her fingers, and we can see all the gold
jewelry that she's wearing. There's something really
aristocratic about her clothing and about her demeanor. Male: When you're
describing the incredibly detailed garments, this was
a fabulous court costume. I can't help but notice
another kind of contrast, not just between the
gruesomeness of the severed head and the beauty of the young woman. You were describing those
gloves, those hands. They're so beautifully
modeled with light and shadow, they turn in space so well,
but if you look at certain other patterns within the
dress, they seem so flat. In fact, the entire image,
and this is very much a characteristic of Cranach's style, the whole thing is somewhat 2 dimensional, and there is this heavy decorative quality that Cranach is clearly intersted in. Female: The colors, those reds and oranges and golds, and the gold of her hair really make her flesh stand out
against that black background. Male: There is a sense
of eroticism here too. Her bodice is quite low. There's a lot of flesh that's displayed, especially as it's
highlighted by her necklaces. All of this, interestingly, is within a highly pitched political context. Wittenberg was of the
origin of Lutheranism, and in fact, this artist was a very close personal friend of Martin Luther. Some art historians have suggested that the story of Judith, which Cranach painted several times, was important as a symbol of resistance against
the Catholic tradition; specifically against Charles
V, the Holy Roman Emperor. Female: So I think there are a couple of potential readings here. One is political in the idea of resistance against the enemy and bravery, an idea of the Protestant resistance
to the Catholics; but also a different reading of a dangerous and sexual woman. Male: The beauty, the
sexuality, the violence, this incredible detail,
the interest in costume and fashion, these are
all qualities that clearly the Saxon court enjoyed and helped make this artist the wealthiest man
in Wittenberg at this time. (jazzy music)