Portrait of Count Palatine Philipp of the Rhein, Bishop of Naumburg and Bishop of Freising (1480-1541)

Portrait of Count Palatine Philipp of the Rhine, Bishop of Naumburg and Bishop of Freising (1480–1541), painted in 1528 and held at the Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie in Dessau, depicts a high-ranking Catholic churchman who held two important German bishoprics simultaneously. Philipp was a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty, and his episcopal appointments reflected the common practice of aristocratic families controlling Church offices. Cranach’s portrait shows the bishop in the vestments and bearing appropriate to his dual ecclesiastical rank. The painting documents the Catholic Church hierarchy that the Reformation was challenging, preserving the image of a man who represented the old order of aristocratic churchmanship.

The portrait is rendered with precise linear draftsmanship characteristic of Lucas Cranach the Elder's best work. The tempera medium, applied in thin layers of egg-bound pigment over a prepared gesso ground, the subtle gradations of flesh tone and the textural contrasts between skin, fabric, and background that give the image its convincing presence.