Cranach the Elder

Paintings by Lucas Cranach

Royal Academy, London, until 8th June.

I went to see this exhibition with a painter friend. By unspoken agreement, we first went round on our own, without comment. Then we met. “There is one outstanding painting”, I said, and we went to see it together: The Prince and the Legend of St. John Chrysostom*. “Why?” he wanted to know. “Look at that face”, I said, “he has painted a man of real being- you can feel the quiet inside”. “It is very well painted” he said, and gave his opinion that it was one of the paintings that had been done entirely by Cranach himself, whereas he suspected that many others had been done partly or even entirely by others at his workshop.

And as we went round again he showed me what had been well painted, which he could see much better than I. “But”, I said, “you need to be not only a master of your craft but also to have understanding if you are going to express the truth”. I gave Venetian painting as an example, where, in the paintings of religious subjects, Jesus Christ, Mary, and various Saints, not a single one was depicted in a state of attention. What, then, was the purpose of such a painting?

*Unfortunately no reproduction is available.