Saint Christopher 1518 - 1520

Lucas Cranach the Elder painted this Saint Christopher using oil on wood, around the early 16th century. Here, the artist has applied his oil paint with precision, creating an image of luminosity and clarity. Cranach’s mastery of the medium is evident in the way he captures the textures and details of the natural world, and in the subtle gradations of light and shadow that bring depth to the composition. The use of oil paint, a relatively new medium at the time, allowed for greater realism and detail than earlier painting techniques, and helped to fuel the art market as we know it. In this, Cranach was very much a modern painter, whose workshop operated on an almost industrial scale, and the painting of small panels like this was an important aspect of his output. Looking closely, we might reflect on how artistic skill and the marketplace have always gone hand in hand, and consider how such masterpieces reflect the economic realities of their time.