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User:DJAISSA/sandbox/Saint Maurice (Lucas Cranach the Elder and Workshop)

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Saint Maurice
ArtistLucas Cranach the Elder and Workshop
Yearca. 1520-1525
MediumOil on linden
LocationMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Saint Maurice is a painting attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop depicting Saint Maurice, an early Christian martyr from North Africa.[1][2] Placed within a church in Halle (Saale), specifically Neues Stift, as the interior left wing of a larger panel[3]. Saint Maurice was the patron saint of Neus Stift church and stands out as such.[3]

The piece itself depicts Saint Maurice in a full set of highly adorned Plate armour, while wielding a golden sword, dagger and banner by his side. He wears a red frilled cap atop his head as well as a jeweled pendant upon his chest and neck. The banner has an eagle upon it but is otherwise covered similarly in gold. His armor has jewels embroidered into it and gold enlaced into the metal of the armor. Behind him is a forested area and sky.

Historical Context

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Saint Maurice was originally commissioned by Albert of Brandenburg as part of sixteen fifteen other alter pieces for a church of his. [3] It is unknown if the art piece itself was completed by the time of the church's dedication in 1523, but the piece is confirmed to be finished and catalogued as installed in the church by October 1525 via records of the church's inventory.[3]

Prior to the time period of this painting, St. Maurice hadn't been commonly depicted with dark skin. This tradition to represent him as such started in the thirteenth century and Cranach chose to continue doing so. [1]

Restoration

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It was donated to and restored within the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Originally inspected for authenticity, infrared reflectography was used to determine what parts of the painting may have been completed by Cranach alone or with help from his workshop.[1]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c "Lucas Cranach the Elder and Workshop | Saint Maurice". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
  2. ^ "Smarthistory – Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, Saint Maurice". smarthistory.org. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
  3. ^ a b c d Ainsworth, Maryan; Hindriks, Sandra; Terjanian, Pierre (2015). "Lucas Cranach's "Saint Maurice"". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 72 (4): 1–46. ISSN 0026-1521.

References

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  • Paul H. D. Kaplan. "Redeploying a Saint: The Black Maurice and the Shifting Iconography of Blackness in Post-Reformation Germany and the Baltics." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte vol. 86, no. 3 (2023), p. 363 n. 29, p. 366 n. 62.
  • Maryan Ainsworth, Sandra Hindriks, and Pierre Terjanian. "Lucas Cranach's 'Saint Maurice'." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 72 (Spring 2015), pp. 1–46.
  • T. F. Earle and K. J. P. Lowe, eds., Black Africans in Renaissance Europe, Cambridge, 2005
  • Erin Kathleen Rowe, Black Saints in Early Modern Global Catholicism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019)
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