»The highly successful restoration has brought these rare and beautiful images by one of the most celebrated northern Renaissance painters much closer to their original brilliance and power«, commented Timothy Potts, Director of the Getty Museum, on the restoration. Lucas Cranach the Elder (circa 1472-1553) painted Adam and Eve over 50 times, and the panels on display here were probably made for a private patron around 1530. The more sensual depiction of Eve compared to other versions, inappropriate for an altarpiece, for example, leads to this conclusion. The Adam and Eve panels belong to the collection of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, which initiated the restoration together with the Getty Museum. The result of years of work can now be admired in the exhibition Conserving Eden: Cranach's Adam and Eve from the Norton Simon. The paintings can be seen in Gallery N204 from January 23 to April 21.
The German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder was one of the most sought-after painters of his time. From 1505, he was court painter in Wittenberg, maintained a huge workshop organized along Italian lines and was a friend of Martin Luther. Both Catholic and Protestant clients, for whose different faith Cranach invented new pictorial concepts, coveted his work. Cranach was also active as a publisher and bookseller and was considered a respected and influential person in his city. He was even mayor of Wittenberg for several years. After his death, his son Lucas Cranach the Younger continued the workshop.
