Friedrich the Wise, Elector of Saxony

Friedrich the Wise (c.1525) at the State Museum of Art and Cultural History in Schleswig is a posthumous or late portrait of Cranach's first and most important patron, who died in 1525. Frederick the Wise had been the essential enabler of the Reformation: his protection of Luther after the Diet of Worms, his refusal to hand the Reformer over to imperial or papal authorities, and his support of humanist learning at the University of Wittenberg were foundational to the movement's survival. Cranach's sustained production of Frederick's portrait image — across both his lifetime and posthumously — served commemorative and propagandistic functions within the Saxon Lutheran tradition. The Schleswig museum's holding reflects the distribution of such memorial portraits through the Protestant networks of northern Germany. The multiple versions of Frederick's portrait produced across Cranach's workshop demonstrate the Reformation's need to establish its historical memory through visual images of the founding figures.

The painting demonstrates the technical conventions and artistic vocabulary of the period, with attention to composition, color, and the rendering of form appropriate to the subject.