# Portraits of Johann I and Frederick III the Wise, Electors of Saxony [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [CRANACH, Lucas the Elder]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Oil on wood, 20 x 15 cm \(each\) ## Commentary The figures occupy only the upper part of the two small portraits, the lower part being taken up by long inscriptions. The paintings portray the two Electors in solemn dress keeping with their status. In these two small works we see the German artist's marked predilection for an almost popular realism, which is achieved by means of a crisp, forceful outline and attention to detail. In Cranach the search for Italian Renaissance beauty is absent; the faces of the sovereigns, both in countenance and expression, are taken to the limit of caricature. ## Related artworks - [A Faun and his Family with a Slain Lion \(detail\)]() - [A Faun and his Family with a Slain Lion]() - [A Prince of Saxony]() - [A Princess of Saxony]() - [Adam and Eve \(detail\)]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()