Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
About the Artwork
The Protestant rulers of Saxony commissioned this animated hunt scene, set near their residence seen in the background, Hartenfels Castle (in eastern Germany). John Frederick the Magnanimous, in the bottom left corner, wears dark green hunting attire; he spans his crossbow and waits for his courtiers and dogs to chase a stag across the river. His wife, the Electress Sibylle, stands at right, poised to take the first ceremonial shot. The prince electors of Saxony were passionate practitioners of hunting with dogs—elaborate, highly rehearsed occasions, coordinated by the use of signals from hunting horns. Cranach dated this work and his signature is the winged snake at lower right. 1577 in the right corner is an inventory number.
Inscriptions
Signed lower right on boat with a winged serpent, and dated: 1540 [inventory number, lower right: 1577]
Exhibition history
Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965). A Cleveland Bestiary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 15-December 16, 1981). Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982). Lucas Cranach: Ein Maler-Unternehmer aus Franken. Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig (May 17-July 1, 1994); Fortress of Rosenberg Kronach (September 7-November 6, 1994). Faith and Power: Saxony in the Europe of the Reformation Era. Hartenfels Castle, Torgau, Dresden, Germany (May 24-October 10, 2004). Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009). Arms and Armor from Imperial Austria. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-June 1, 2008). Lucas Cranach. L'altro rinascimento. Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy (organizer) (October 13, 2010-March 3, 2011). Luther and the Princes. Schloss Hartenfels, Torgau, Germany (May 15-November 1, 2015).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Lucas Cranach (German, 1472–1553)
- Date
- 1540
- Medium
- oil, originally on wood, transferred to masonite
- Dimensions
- Framed: 133 x 185.5 x 7.3 cm (52 3/8 x 73 1/16 x 2 7/8 in.); Unframed: 116.8 x 170.2 cm (46 x 67 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1958.425
Provenance
1540-1950s: Royal Collection of Saxony, Schloss Hartenfels and Schloss Moritzburg, consigned to M.H. Drey Until 1958: (M.H. Drey, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1958-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
More by Lucas Cranach in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00000249
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