Portrait of Martin Luther

The Portrait of Martin Luther is on show next to the Portrait of Katharina von Bora (inv. 1035), his wife; the two panels, set in a single frame, formed a dipthyc, that could be transported, almost as a devotional object.
The German reformer, father of Protestantism, is depicted half-bust against a blue background. He is wearing a black dress and a cap that lets slip some locks of his curly hair, he has thin lips, a prominent nose, and lines marking his eyes.
His wife Katharina, a former Cistercian nun, looks also austere, wearing a black-edged white shirt, a laced bodice and an overcoat with a fur collar. The presence of the two spouses, one next to the other, reminds that Protestantism abolished the celibacy for priests.
The two works come from the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, a prominent German painter and printmaker of the early 16th century and court painter of the Elector of Saxony. Cranach was a close friend of Luther and a promoter of the new religion; actually, the image of Luther became very popular thanks to portraits like this one, produced in series in numerous copies by his extremely active workshop.
The date 1529 is visible in the painting, on the left, together with a winged dragon, used by the artist as his signature.
The portraits show two Latin quotations from the Bible: on Luther’s, IN SILENCIO ET SPE ERIT FORTITUDO VESTRA (In quietness and trust shall be your strength) from Isaiah (30:15); on his wife’s, SALVABITUR PER FILIORUM GENERACIONEM (She shall be saved through childbearing), from the first Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy (2,15).