The Second Tournament with the Tapestry of Sampson and the Lion

The Second Tournament with the Tapestry of Sampson and the Lion, 1509. Lucas Cranach (German, 1472–1553). Woodcut; sheet: 30 x 42 cm (11 13/16 x 16 9/16 in.); image: 29.7 x 41.7 cm (11 11/16 x 16 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1925.982

Created in 1509 during the Renaissance period, this work belongs firmly within the portrait tradition. Lucas Cranach worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.

As woodcut (Sheet: 30 x 42 cm (11 13/16 x 16 9/16 in.); Image: 29.7 x 41.7 cm (11 11/16 x 16 7/16 in.)), the work shows the tool marks and layering choices typical of Lucas Cranach'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.

Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland now holds the work, where conservators and historians continue to revisit its condition and attribution. Each generation of scholarship adds a layer to how Lucas Cranach's output from this period is understood.

“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”