2 Audley Square
Mayfair, London W1K
UK
Established in 1994, The Course offers innovative and exciting lectures in Art History, Literature, Music and Opera.
In this series on German Art, we will go from medieval to modern Germany through artists who would come to be a major influence not just on Northern art but also on the Italian Renaissance and ultimately European art. It will begin in the 1460s and demonstrate the interconnectivity of German artists through their itinerancy, their ingenuity, and rigorous work ethic. Each of the weekly lectures will take a look at an individual artist and in so doing take us from the medieval wood carvings of Tilman Riemenschneider, to the Renaissance art of Lucas Cranach the Elder and Hans Holbein the Younger, to the Baroque art of Adam Elsheimer; from Neo-Classicism to Romanticism and finally to German art of the 19th century with its impact on French Impressionism.
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)
Cranach was one of the leading German painters and printmakers of the early 16th century with an incredibly successful workshop. He was the Elector of Saxony’s court painter and the official portraitist of Martin Luther, as well as the Reformation’s chief artist. We will examine Cranach’s output, style of painting and how that style changed as he became more involved with the cause of the Reformation. His altarpieces, Lutheran subject pictures, portraits, as well as mythological works and nudes will all be studied. We will also investigate the success of Cranach among Humanist scholars, rulers, religious leaders and the controversy that still surrounds some of his works.