# Melancholy [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [CRANACH, Lucas the Elder]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Oil on panel, 51 x 97 cm ## Commentary With only a stick to help them, three nude children attempt to play a game, the object of which is to pass a large ball through a hoop. A winged woman, lost in thought, splits a stick, seemingly in the process of making another hoop. Through reference to a similar figure in a <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/d/durer/2/13/4/079.html'\)" href="/html/d/durer/2/13/4/079.html">Dürer's print,</a> the seated female figure has been read as a personification of Melancholy, one of the four temperaments. ## 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]()