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

Portrait of a Man with a Gold Embroidered Cap

1532
Oil and gold on beech panel, 51 x 36 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The probable identification of the sitter is based on the coat of arms on the verso of the panel. He is Lukas Spielhausen. Born c. 1493 in Leipzig, he was a state lawyer in the state judicial curia under Johann the Constant, Elector of Saxony (r. 1523-32). He could have encountered Cranach, court painter to the Saxon electors, through his official duties in Torgau.