Art Institute of Chicago

The Stag Hunt

Lucas Cranach the Elder

Date

c. 1506

Medium

Woodcut in black from two blocks on two sheets of cream laid paper, joined

Culture

Germany

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

As the court artist of Elector Frederick of Saxony, Lucas Cranach the Elder had the privilege of depicting the courtly entertainment of the stag hunt. Cranach was renowned for his depictions of hunting trophies in illusionistic trompe l’oeil murals; his contemporaries even claimed that his animal imagery was so lifelike that birds tried to land on the painted stags’ antlers. The grand scale of this two-part woodcut allowed Cranach to include copious details of the deer and dogs; the visible seam in the center demonstrates that the printing shop was not necessarily interested in matching the sides perfectly.

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