Frederick the Wise and John the Constant of Saxony

Lucas Cranach the Elder German

Not on view

Inscribed (in German): The Presentation of the Highly Venerable Relics of the Collegiate Church of All Saints in Wittenberg


Friederich III, the Wise, included Cranach's engraved double-portrait of himself with his brother, Johann I, the Constant, as the frontispiece of his Wittenberger Heiltumsbuch of 1509. He is shown silently reciting a prayer with a rosary as Johann stands by in an equally meditative mood. This introduction to Friederich's book of relics serves not only to express the brothers' piety but also to signal their loyal patronage of the Roman Catholic Church.

Frederick the Wise and John the Constant of Saxony, Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, Kronach 1472–1553 Weimar), Engraving

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