Melancholia (Lucas Cranach the Elder, Colmar)

Melancholia
Artist	Lucas Cranach the Elder
Year	1532
Medium	oil paint on panel
Movement	Northern Renaissance allegory
Subject	Melancholia
Dimensions	76.5 cm × 56 cm (30.1 in × 22 in)[1]
Location	Unterlinden Museum, Colmar
Accession	1983

Melancholia is a 1532 oil painting by the German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. It is now in the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, France. Its inventory number is 83.5.1.^[2]

This vertical painting belongs to a series of four works inspired by Albrecht Dürer's seminal 1514 engraving Melencolia I.^[2] The National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen owns a horizontal version from the same year which presents a number of similarities. The Colmar version is accepted as a work largely painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder himself, but with a possible contribution of the 19-year-old Hans Cranach, which would account for the softness of the brushstrokes in some parts.^[3]

References

1. "La Mélancolie". museesgrandest.org. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
2. Haas, Magali (April 2016). Le musée Unterlinden - Guide des collections. Paris: Éditions Artlys. pp. 146–147. ISBN 978-2-85495-625-2.
3. "Die Melancholie". lucascranach.org. Retrieved 1 April 2023.

External links

Media related to Melancholia (Lucas Cranach (I), 1532) at Wikimedia Commons

• Melancholy, presentation on the museum's website