CRANACH, Lucas the Elder
(b. 1472, Kronach, d. 1553, Weimar)

Virgin and Child

c. 1518
Tempera and oil on limewood, 41 x 31 cm
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

This Madonna by Cranach is perhaps the finest to have survived. It is a mark of its quality that lapis lazuli was used for Mary's cloak instead of the usual azurite. Lapis lazuli was so expensive that painters generally only obtained it on request for specific commissions.