Hunting for deer by Lucas Cranach

A special place in the late work of Lucas Cranach is the picture “Hunting for deer.” On the one hand, this is a historical picture, as a concrete case is depicted – a hunt organized by Elector Frederick the Wise in honor of Emperor Maximilian. At the same time, it is one of the best types of nature in European art.

Such a fascinating landscape Cranach did not create in his entire life: a panorama with hills and forests, lawns washed by the river; in the hollow there was a town with sharp-pointed spiers of churches; on the hill towers a proud castle.

Dark bunches of trees, bright green meadows, noble gray color of the river and the blue sky create a background on which scattered, like a mosaic of precious stones, figures of people and animals. One after another, episodes of hunting alternate, and it’s difficult to tear your gaze away from this gay, unsophisticated but infinitely entertaining picture.