Portrait of Magdalena of Saxony, Wife of Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg
Lucas Cranach the Elder
1122 likes72 comments
The Story
Saint Jerome, known for translating the Bible into Latin, was a popular subject for paintings in the Renaissance, a period of renewed interest in secular and religious learning. Artists typically depicted him as a scholar in his study or as an ascetic in the wilderness, but this portrait-like image combines both themes. The books before him on the desk suggest his learned character, while the crucifix and skull he contemplates as he beats his breast with a rock evoke his hermetic activities.
The saint displays the nervous, exaggerated gestures often found in work by this artist, known as the Master of the Lille Adoration.
As Oil on panel (34.2 × 25.3 cm (13 1/2 × 10 in.)), the work shows the tool marks and layering choices typical of Master of the Lille Adoration's output in this period — decisions about ground, underpainting, and glaze that a photograph can only partly convey.
Look closely and the painting opens up. Objects you might pass over — a folded letter, a half-drawn curtain, the angle of a glance — were placed to be read. The sitter is constructed: clothes, pose, and attributes were chosen to project status, virtue, and lineage.
Today the painting is held by Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, where it remains a touchstone for understanding Master of the Lille Adoration's contribution to Western art. It has been studied, copied, restored, and argued over for centuries — proof that great paintings keep generating new readings long after their creators have gone.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
