The Graphic Works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, his Sons and the Workshop. Interdisciplinary Analysis and Development of a Networked Research Resource

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Lucas Cranach the Elder is not only one of the most important representatives of the German Renaissance, but also one of the most productive. His vital role as inventor and mediator of a Reformation pictorial language in Germany and Europe is indisputable. He is also recognised as one of the foremost court painters North of the Alps. While over the last 10 years the paintings and archival documents have been systematically catalogued in the Cranach Digital Archive (CDA) within the context of an interdisciplinary and collaborative research initiative, no such comprehensive and scholarly sustainable catalogue of Cranach’s widely dispersed oeuvre of prints and drawings exists, despite their great artistic value and significance for the dissemination of Reformation ideas. The aim of this project is to develop a systematic online digital catalogue of the c. 300 drawings and c. 600 prints by Lucas Cranach the Elder, his sons and workshop, providing high resolution images and access to art historical, technical and conservation information in both English and German. It will serve as a platform from which all information, currently housed in different institutions, will be made accessible to professionals and the general public alike.In cooperation with other portals like the Graphikportal, various Museum databases, and building on the experience of the CDA it would serve as a prototype for future similar catalogues of its kind to document a complex oeuvre of prints and drawings. In addition to questions regarding the motif and subject, object related aspects would also be documented and researched, such as the relationship between the original block and its subsequent states, the chronology of impressions and their use as book illustration or otherwise, thus providing valuable information on the dissemination and period of use. A systematic technical examination should provide a basis for a more reliable art historical evaluation of the authenticity, dating, dissemination and associated contemporary function and significance of each work. Furthermore, the present content of the CDA provides a unique opportunity to examine the prints and drawings within a wider spectrum of primary sources. As the CDA is already used worldwide on a daily basis by a great number of visitors the inclusion of the prints and drawings would show the considerably wider field of publication exploited by the extremely productive Cranach workshop in its diverse involvement in the political and confessional development of Wittenberg, a political and religious powerhouse at that time. Consequently, the digitalization and cataloguing of Cranach’s prints and drawings is of central importance for the preservation and propagation of the artistic and cultural heritage of the German Renaissance.