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Lucas Cranach The Elder
(German, 1472 — 1553)
Madonna Under the Apple Tree (1520/1530)
Inventory Number: 684
Oil on canvas.
22 x 32 inches (56 x 81 cm)
This is the Hermitage's most outstanding painting from Cranach's mature period. It is full of symbolism. Cranach put into the image of the Virgin all the world's beauty and majesty, depicting her as the true queen of the earth — seen in the superb panorama which spreads out in the background. The calm landscape, with the smooth surface of the water and the chain of blue hills on the horizon, reminds us that Cranach was one of the founders of the landscape genre in Western European art. The rich combination of red and golden-yellow with emerald green and cold pale blue is evidence of the artist's marvellous gift for colour.
Size can be commissioned smaller or larger.
Collection of the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.