Zerbster Prunkbibel - Cranach's Bible

Cranach's Bible

The so-called Cranach's Bible is a gem of illumination and the history of the 16th century. 26 colored woodcuts by the monogrammist MS and Lucas Cranach the Younger adorn the pages of the book, which was printed in Wittenberg by Hans Lufft in 1541 – in the workshop of the famous “Bible Printer”. The biblical text of the Apocalypse as translated by Martin Luther was illustrated here with wonderful depictions, which visualize the tale in expressive images and transmit an impressive picture of this exciting Reformation period.

A Glimmering Work by the Bible Printer

The first complete translation of the Bible was already published in 1534 in the print shop of Hans Lufft in Wittenberg, who originally came from Amberg. The translation of the Bible by Martin Luther could be widely disseminated and adapted in this way and thus take effect. Hans Lufft earned the epithet “the Bible Printer” for his activities during the Reformation. Finally in 1541, another edition of Luther’s biblical translation was published in his print shop, known today as Cranach’s Bible as well as the Zerbster Prunkbibel due to its splendid design and repository in the municipal archive of Zerbst (a city neighboring Wittenberg).

The Exceptional Illumination

The illustrations accompanying the text are what make this printed book so special: 26 woodcuts by the monogrammist MS and Lucas Cranach the Younger. The illustrations of the Apocalypse, as assembled here, belong among the best of what graphic art had to offer at that time. The savage, eccentric depictions were colored in Cranach’s workshop. They transmit a successful picture of the Apocalypse: it shows a terrifying Satan being pardoned, the menacing sky hangs over a deserted-looking landscape in the background. Other miniatures present the typical depictions of the Apocalypse, e.g. the Whore of Babylon, the Dragon and the Woman of the Apocalypse, or the Riders of the Apocalypse.

The Painter of the Reformation

Cranch’s Bible is named after its primary master Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515–1586). His father, Lucas Cranach the Elder, is already directly associated with the person of Martin Luther as a painter of countless portraits of the protestant reformer. Cranach the Younger carried the important Cranach workshop of his father’s forward and like his father was considered to be the most important, indeed the master painter of the Reformation. The Apocalypse from Cranach’s Bible presented here visualizes the fullness of expressive symbolic power with its illustrations in combination with the language of Luther’s new translation - a “highpoint of German Bible art”!