Lucas Cranach the Elder, Diptych: Two Electors of Saxony

This portrait diptych shows father and son, future electors of Saxony Johann the Steadfast (1468–1532) and Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous (1503–1554). The format was traditionally used to show a husband and wife, with the man depicted on the left and the woman on the right. Johann’s wife, Sophie of Mecklenburg, died in childbirth, and so Cranach instead portrayed father and son in this pendant format.

This portrait was made to assert the power of the electors of Saxony and to emphasise their hereditary lineage, confirming their dynastic right to rule. Cranach was first employed as a court painter in 1504. He worked for successive electors, and his workshop continued to be employed even after his death in 1553.

The portraits have complementary colour schemes: the green of the background in the father’s portrait is echoed by the green of his son’s clothing, while the black background in the son’s portrait matches the black of the father’s clothing. But Johann Friedrich dominates the composition in a way that Johann the Steadfast does not; Cranach has manipulated the scale of the portraits by placing the child higher up and closer to the viewer. He is still angelic and childlike, but has a commanding physical presence.

The frame is original: paint has been detected on the inner edges of the frame, which suggests that the paintings were made after the wooden panels had been fitted into it. This is known as an engaged frame.