A Faun and his Family with a Slain Lion by CRANACH, Lucas the Elder

CRANACH, Lucas the Elder

(b. 1472, Kronach, d. 1553, Weimar)

	A Faun and his Family with a Slain Lion c. 1526 Oil and tempera on wood, 83 x 56 cm J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
This painting represents one of the mythological descriptions of 'wild people', the forest dwellers and demigods who first appear in Cranach's work in prints and drawings. Shortly before 1530 he began producing these as independent pictorial subjects, using the medium of panel painting. The present picture is an example of these paintings.