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Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
Portrait of a Scholar
Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
© Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami. All rights reserved.

Portrait of a Scholar

Artist/Maker (Germany, 1472-1553)
Dateca. 1515
MediumOil on wood
DimensionsSight: 16 x 10 3/8 in. (40.6 x 26.4 cm)
Framed: 23 x 17 3/8 x 2 1/4 in. (58.4 x 44.1 x 5.7 cm)
ClassificationsVisual Works
Credit LineGift of The Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Terms
    Object number61.038.000
    DescriptionLucas Cranach, court artist to Frederick III of Saxony (r. 1486-1525) and intimate friend of the leader of the Protestant Reformation Martin Luther (1483-1546), was the most prolific Northern European portrait painter of his generation. Although to date, the Lowe’s portrait has not been incorporated into Cranach’s established oeuvre, scholars have always attributed the work to the master’s hand. The sitter has been identified as a scholar on the basis of his black cap, presumably that of a doctor of philosophy, and his heavy, black fur-lined robe. That he was a very rich scholar is evident from the luxurious appearance of the sitter’s clothing, emphasized by the multiple folds of expensive silk brocade sleeves that cover the man’s hands. The Lowe’s painting is comparable in style with Cranach’s signed portrait of the successful merchant and city alderman, Moritz Büchner, of ca. 1520 in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. As in the portrait of Büchner, Cranach’s Portrait of a Scholar masterfully conveys the sitter’s sense of confidence and pride in his social status and apparent prosperity.
    On View
    On view
    Collections
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Vincenzo di Biagio Catena
    ca. 1510
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Veneziano Jacometto
    possibly 1470s
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Filippo Mazzola
    ca. 1500
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Thomas Gainsborough
    ca. 1770-1775
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Artist Unknown
    19th century
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Artist Unknown
    ca. 1540
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Artist Unknown
    late 17th century
    Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
    Lucas Samaras
    1988