husbands. If they were single, their careers
sometimes ended when their customers
arranged their marriage—or took them as
wives themselves. The courtesan was an
ornament, as well as a fashion trend setter
and status symbol. She reflected the good
taste and wealth of her patron. The most
successful courtesans attained complete
independence and lived out their lives in
comfort and high regard. One such was
the famous Roman courtesan Imperia,
who lived like a princess in a magnificent
suite of rooms.
Veronica Franco, one of the most fa-
mous Renaissance courtesans, plied her
trade in Venice, a city where the profes-
sion of courtesan carried great prestige.
The daughter of a courtesan, she was
trained in the profession by her mother
from a young age (mothers of courtesans
often acted as managers for their
daughters). She took part in Venice’s vital
new printing industry and published sev-
eral books of her own poetry and letters.
Under Franco’s patronage, a charity for
courtesans and their children was estab-
lished in Venice.
SEEALSO: Franco, Veronica; Venice
Cranach, Lucas .................................
(1472–1553)
A German painter and engraver, known
for his expressive religious paintings, his
portraits of the German nobility, and his
association with Martin Luther. His name
comes from the town of his birth, Kro-
nach, in central Germany. He may have
trained with his father as a painter, and as
a young man lived and worked in Vienna,
the capital of the Habsburg dynasty. His
reputation soon reached the elector of Sax-
ony, who hired him as a court painter in
1504, the date of his first known painting,
Rest During the Flight into Egypt. He was
skilled in realistic still lifes and nature
paintings, and his religious paintings often
set his subjects in a gloomy and realistic
wilderness. While in Saxony, he won com-
missions from the Saxon nobility to deco-
rate the walls of their homes with hunting
scenes; these same nobles also requested
him to do pictures intended for private
viewing that depict scantily clad or nude
mythological figures. One of the most fa-
mous of these erotic paintings isThe Judg-
ment of Paris, which he completed in 1530.
In 1509 he journeyed to the Nether-
lands, where he painted portraits of the
Habsburg royal family, including the boy
who would later became Charles V. When
he returned to Wittenberg, the capital of
Saxony, he mastered the arts of engraving
and printing, and managed an apothecary
shop as well as a press that produced
Bibles and tracts written by Luther. Cra-
nach and Luther became friends, with
Luther sitting for several famous portraits
and Cranach printing woodcuts and tracts
meant to spread Luther’s message of re-
demption through faith. The elector Jo-
hann Frederick I appointed Cranach as
the burgomaster (mayor) of Wittenberg in
1531 and again in 1540. Cranach returned
this favor by interceding with Charles V
on behalf of the elector when Johann Fre-
derick was captured at the Battle of Mühl-
berg.
Cranach painted scenes of classical my-
thology as well as Christian religious sub-
jects. He showed his greatest skill in por-
traits, and depicted himself as well as
Martin Luther in a famousCrucifixion.He
was one of the first Renaissance painters
to depict his subjects as they sat and posed
alone. In the eyes of many art historians
Cranach was a more original draftsman
than painter, with many seeing his engrav-
ings, includingSt. ChristopherandElectorCranach, Lucas