Portrait of Margaretha Luther, Luther's mother
Historical Context
The Portrait of Margaretha Luther (c.1527) at the Wartburg-Stiftung is the companion to the Hans Luther portrait, together forming Cranach's tribute to the Reformer's parents. Margaretha Ziegler Luther had been a deeply devout woman whose son Martin recalled with affection even as he transformed the religious culture she had raised him in. By 1527 the Luther parents were elderly and the visit to Wittenberg was a remarkable event — the son who had entered a monastery against his father's wishes was now the founder of a movement that was reshaping Europe. Cranach's portraits of both Luther parents are unusual in his oeuvre as examples of straightforwardly non-aristocratic, non-ecclesiastical portrait subjects — humble people painted with the same attention he gave to electors and cardinals. The Wartburg-Stiftung's holding is significant: the Wartburg was where Luther translated the New Testament, and the foundation's collections preserve the material history of Lutheranism's founding moment.
Technical Analysis
The portrait follows established conventions of the period, with attention to physiognomic features and costume details that convey social identity and status.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice Margaretha Luther's face: the features of Luther's mother, preserved by Cranach's careful observation, allow comparison with her famous son's multiple portraits.
- ◆Look at the modest dress appropriate to a mining family's matriarch: Margaretha's social position as the successful but not aristocratic wife of Hans Luther is accurately documented.
- ◆Observe the Wartburg-Stiftung location: holding both parents' portraits in this Reformation fortress creates a family group appropriate to the site most associated with their son's defining act.
- ◆The 1527 date captures Margaretha in her late sixties, just two years before Hans Luther's death — a late-life couple portrait of the people who made Luther.
