of his adult life. Philip II appointed him as royal histori-
ographer, a position he used to expose the decadence of
Portuguese affairs in the subcontinent, most notably in
Dialogo do soldado prático. From 1602 do Couto also con-
tinued BARROS’s Décadas da Asia on the Portuguese imper-
ial adventure in the East. He died in Goa.
Covarrubias, Alonso de (c. 1488–1564) Spanish
architect and sculptor
Covarrubias was evidently trained in the Gothic tradition
and, as one of the nine consultants on Salamanca cathe-
dral, had an opportunity at an early age to practice in an
essentially Gothic style. However, his subsequent works
were executed in a manner influenced by contemporary
Italian trends and became good examples of the
PLATERESQUEstyle in Spain. Many of his most important
works were executed in Toledo, where from 1504 he
worked on the hospital of Sta. Cruz with the late Gothic
architect Enrique EGAS; on Egas’s death (1534) Covarru-
bias succeeded him as master mason at Toledo cathedral.
Of his work there, the chapel of the New Kings (1531–34)
survives as a testament to his skill. Other works included
the church of the Piedad at Guadalajara (1526), a fine
staircase at the archbishop’s palace at Alcalá (c. 1530), and
the rebuilding of the Bisagra Neuva gate at Toledo (1559).
As architect to the royal castles he also oversaw the re-
building of the Alcázar at Toledo (1537–53) for Charles V.
Covilhã, Pero da (died 1525) Portuguese explorer
Covilhã, who was called after his birthplace in Beira,
served at both the Castilian and Portuguese courts before
being dispatched (1487) to explore the overland trade
routes to the East and to discover the country of the leg-
endary priest-king Prester John (i.e. Ethiopia). At the
same time Bartholomeu DIAZwas sent to look for the
southern sea route round Africa. From Barcelona Covilhã
went via Naples to Rhodes and Egypt, and then to the Ara-
bian peninsula and India. On his way back to Cairo he
made a detour down the East African coast. From Cairo he
sent back to Portugal a report on the feasibility of his route
for the spice trade and then set out via Arabia for Ethiopia.
There he was detained as an honored prisoner of state for
the remainder of his life.
Cracow A city in Poland on a strategic site on the left
bank of the Vistula. Traditionally said to have been
founded about 700 CEby a mythical Prince Krak, Cracow
was nearly destroyed by the Tatars in 1241, but the rebuilt
town prospered and in 1305 became the capital of the Pol-
ish kings, who continued to be crowned and buried in
Cracow’s cathedral of St. Stanislas until 1764. Cracow uni-
versity was founded in 1364 and played a leading role in
strengthening the ties of the Polish Church with the West;
the university library is housed in the fine 15th-century
university buildings. Besides being famous as an intellec-
tual center in the 15th and 16th centuries, Cracow is fa-
mous for the number and beauty of its churches; the
cathedral, which was substantially rebuilt in the 14th cen-
tury, houses masterpieces by Veit STOSS, Pieter VISCHER,
Guido RENI, and others, and the Marienkirche contains
Stoss’s great altarpiece of the Virgin. The former royal cas-
tle on the rocky outcrop known as the Wawel was rebuilt
in the Italian Renaissance style under King Sigismund I
(reigned 1506–48), who married (1518) Bona Sforza of
Milan, under whose influence the court at Cracow became
a major northern center of Renaissance culture. The Sigis-
mund chapel in the cathedral (1519–30) is an outstanding
example of pure Italian Renaissance style.Cranach, Lucas (1472–1553) German painter and print
maker
Born at Kronach and initially trained by his painter father
Hans, Cranach had become established at Coburg by- Subsequently he traveled through the Danube area
to Vienna, where he stayed until 1504 and established
contact with humanists at the university. His Winterthur
portraits of Dr Johannes Cuspinian and his wife, his
Berlin/Nuremberg portraits of Stephan Reuss and his wife,
and his Berlin Rest on the Flight into Egypt all date from
this period. Distinguished by vibrant warm colors and
lush landscape backgrounds, these are key early works of
the socalled DANUBE SCHOOL.
In 1505 Cranach was appointed court painter to Elec-
tor Frederick the Wise at Wittenberg, succeeding the itin-
erant Venetian Jacopo de’ BARBARI. Shortly after this,
Cranach’s style began to change. His Martyrdom of St.
Catherine (1506; Dresden) has a strongly decorative sur-
face design and a light, transparent coloring reminiscent
of DÜRER. Around 1506 Cranach began to produce wood-
cuts. Like BURGKMAIR, he pioneered the two-tone
chiaroscuro print, of which his 1507 St. George is an early
example. In 1509 Cranach visited the Netherlands. His
Frankfurt Holy Kinship triptych (1509) revels the influ-
ence of METSYSin its subject matter and perspectivally
deep architectural setting, but the shallow surface linear-
ity of its figure grouping indicates Cranach’s own future
development. These decorative qualities are manifest in
the full-size, full-length portraits of Duke Henry the Pious
and Duchess Catherine (1514; Dresden). Both figures are
portrayed in brightly colored court dress against a flat
black background, the effect emphasizing both silhouette
and detail in a “heraldic” manner, reminiscent of a playing
card.
At Wittenberg Cranach became closely associated
with Martin LUTHER, who became godfather to one of the
painter’s children. Cranach’s woodcut Luther as Junker Jörg
(1521–22) is the first of a long series of portraits of the
reformer. After the coming of Lutheranism to Saxony,
Cranach concentrated increasingly upon portraits, secular
themes from classical antiquity, and small religious pic-
CCrraannaacchh,, LLuuccaass 1 12255