Portrait of Anna Buchner, ne Lindacker

Anna Buchner née Lindacker (1520) at the Minneapolis Institute of Art is a rare Cranach portrait of a woman from the Saxon professional or merchant class — a category of sitter whose portraits were less commonly preserved than those of the nobility. The Buchner family portraits, of which this and the companion portrait of Moritz Buchner form a pair, document a prosperous household from the Wittenberg or surrounding Saxon area. Paired husband-and-wife portraits — typically shown facing each other, the man to the viewer's left and the woman to the right in pendant format — were a standard product of Cranach's workshop for affluent bourgeois patrons who wanted the same dynastic documentation that the nobility enjoyed. The Minneapolis Institute of Art, which holds both Buchner portraits, assembled a significant Northern European Renaissance collection through donations and purchases across the twentieth century. The detail of Anna Buchner's costume — the specific cut and fabric of her dress, the jewelry at her neck — provides precise information about dress practice in the early Reformation Saxon bourgeoisie.

Oil on canvas, the portrait demonstrates Lucas Cranach the Elder's command of vivid coloring and decorative elegance. The careful modeling of the face reveals close study of the sitter's physiognomy, while the treatment of costume and setting projects appropriate social standing.