Portrait of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg

Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg's portrait of 1522 at the Gemäldegalerie Berlin is among the earliest of Cranach's multiple portraits of this controversial prelate. Albrecht had been the primary driver of the indulgence campaign whose proceeds funded both his archbishopric purchase and Saint Peter's Basilica — the immediate cause of Luther's public protest in 1517. By 1522 the Reformation had made remarkable progress, yet Albrecht retained his enormous wealth and influence as Archbishop of Mainz, the most prestigious ecclesiastical position in Germany. Cranach's willingness to portray him — as Luther's personal friend and the painter most associated with the Protestant cause — indicates either financial pragmatism or the artist's understanding that his professional reputation transcended factional identification. Albrecht was himself a major patron of Grünewald and supported an extraordinary program of Counter-Reformation Catholic art; Cranach's portrait is a document of the peculiar personal relationships that cut across the theological divide.

The cardinal's portrait conveys ecclesiastical dignity and political authority with Cranach's characteristic precision. The rich vestments and individual features are rendered with clarity.