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Primary sourcePainting1543

Portraits of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon

Lucas Cranach the Elder · 1543

A pair of 1543 oil portraits by Lucas Cranach the Elder depicting Luther and his closest collaborator Philipp Melanchthon.

This is one of many Cranach portraits of Luther, part of a series that fixed his public image during his lifetime.

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Two side-by-side oil portraits of men in black clothing and black flat caps against dark green backgrounds, separated by a gold frame. The left man has short hair and a high black collar; the right man has a full beard and a date inscription at right.
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Portraits of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, 1543. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

About this source

What it is

These two paired portraits, painted in 1543 by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop, show Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon. They are now held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Why it matters

Cranach produced many such paired portraits of the two men, spreading their likenesses widely as recognisable symbols of the Reformation. The pairing itself reflects how closely Luther and Melanchthon were linked in the public mind as leaders of the movement.

Look closer

  • Why do you think portraits of Luther and Melanchthon were produced together, rather than alone?
  • What does the plain dark clothing and background suggest about how the reformers wanted to be seen?
  • Why might an artist make many copies of the same portrait pairing?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Martin Luther on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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