Lucas Cranach the Elder
German, 1472-1553
Portrait of Martin Luther as an Augustinian Friar, 1520
Engraving

Portraits can be powerful changemakers. Stoic and scholarly, a young Martin Luther (German, 1483-1546) gazes intently ahead. Lucas Cranach, himself a renowned artist, and Luther were dear friends and frequent professional collaborators. What we see here is an intimate portrait rendered by one of Luther’s closest friends. This engraving was the first of many images Cranach created of the Catholic Friar, theologian and humanist scholar who sparked the 1517 Protestant Reformation.

Despite its simplicity, this portrait’s significance to the theological and cultural changes of the time was momentous. It gave a face to the name behind influential ideas and revolutionary change, and became the model for many subsequent portraits which communicated Luther’s ideas for Church reform. Conveying aspects of Luther’s personality, expertise and devout faith, it is also a beautifully accurate likeness. Dressed authentically in a simple monk’s robe and tonsure, Cranach’s Luther is presented as a resolved, pious, and trustworthy figure to admire and follow.