Saint George Standing with Two Angels
Original title: Saint George Standing with Two Angels
kurzbeschreibung
Lucas Cranach the Elder depicted Saint George in 1506 as a knight in full armor, flanked by two angels. A richly articulated landscape rises behind the figure, embedded into the print.
Description
George stands front and center in full armor, shield in his right hand. To his left an angel carries a banner; to his right another holds a sheet of paper. Behind him a terrain with trees, a hill and a castle opens up. A cross with a coat of arms hovers above the saint's head, and fragments of armor lie at his feet. Fine lines and hatching give the figures body, while the light falls evenly and creates hardly any shadow.
Context
The print was made in 1506, when Cranach was working at the court of the Saxon electors in Wittenberg. It belongs to a series of religious motifs intended for the print market. George as a knight embodies the late medieval image of the Christian warrior, which gained further weight during the Reformation. The landscape with the castle probably goes back to Saxon models from Cranach's surroundings.
Impact
The symmetrical arrangement with the two angels and the centrally placed saint gives the sheet calm and a monumental scale. The dense linework creates a richly articulated surface that invites close looking without dulling the clarity of the image.
Technique
For printing, the motif was cut into a woodblock and then pulled onto paper. Parallel lines and cross-hatching produce volume and structure in both figures and landscape. The impression remains monochrome, as is usual for this process.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)