Editing Lucas Cranach the Elder (section)

===Mythological scenes===
[[File:Lucas Cranach the Elder, Hercules Relieving Atlas of the Globe, c. 1530, NGA 106369.jpg|alt=Hercules holds the globe while atlas takes a break|thumb|''Hercules Relieving Atlas of the Globe'', c. 1530, [[National Gallery of Art]]]]
Cranach was equally successful in a series of paintings of mythological scenes which nearly always feature at least one slim female figure, naked but for a transparent drape or a large hat.

These are mostly in narrow upright formats; examples are several of [[Venus (goddess)|Venus]], alone or with [[Cupid]], who has sometimes stolen a honeycomb, and complains to Venus that he has been stung by a [[bee]] (Weimar, 1530; Berlin, 1534). Other such subjects are the [[The Three Graces (Cranach)|Three Graces]], [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] with [[Apollo]], shooting a bow, and [[Heracles|Hercules]] sitting at the spinning-wheel mocked by [[Omphale]] and her maids.<ref name=EB1911/> A similar approach was taken with the biblical subjects of [[Salome]] and [[Adam and Eve]]. He and his workshop also painted more than sixty versions of [[Lucretia]], the self-stabbing pagan heroine whose death sparked the Roman Republic.

<gallery widths="160" heights="220" perrow="5">
File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Amor beklagt sich bei Venus (National Gallery, London).jpg|''[[Cupid Complaining to Venus]]'', c. 1525
File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Venus mit Cupid als Honigdieb (Galleria Borghese).jpg|''[[Venus and Cupid with a Honeycomb]]'', c. 1527
File:Lucas Cranach (I) - Venus and Cupid (1529) - National Gallery London.jpg|''Venus and Cupid'', 1529
File:Lucas Cranach the Elder - Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey - Google Art Project.jpg|''Venus and Amor'', 1530
File:Lucas Cranach d. Ä. - Venus and Cupid - WGA05644.jpg|''Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey'', 1531
File:Bemberg Fondation Toulouse - Vénus et Cupidon - Lucas Cranach (I) - 1531 Inv.1015.jpg|''Venus with Cupid'', 1531
File:Lucas Cranach the Elder - Venus - Google Art Project.jpg|''Venus'', 1532
File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Caritas (Koninklijk Museum v. Schone Kunsten Antwerpen).jpg|''[[Caritas (Lucas Cranach the Elder)]]'', c. 1537
File:Judgement of Paris by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1528).jpg|Judgement of Paris (1528)
</gallery>
[[File:Lucas Cranach - Der Jungbrunnen (Gemäldegalerie Berlin).jpg|thumb|250px|''[[The Fountain of Youth (Cranach)|The Fountain of Youth]]'' (''Der Jungbrunnen''), 1546]]
These subjects were produced early in his career, when they show Italian influences including that of [[Jacopo de' Barberi]], who was at the court of Saxony for a period up to 1505. They then become rare until after the death of Frederick the Wise. The later nudes are in a distinctive style which abandons Italian influence for a revival of Late Gothic style, with small heads, narrow shoulders, high breasts and waists. The poses become more frankly seductive and even exhibitionist.<ref>{{cite book|last=Snyder|first= James|title=Northern Renaissance Art|year=1985|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|isbn=0-13-623596-4|page=383}}</ref>

Humour and pathos are combined at times in pictures such as ''Jealousy'' (Augsburg, 1527; Vienna, 1530), where women and children are huddled into groups as they watch the strife of men wildly fighting around them. A lost canvas of 1545 is said to show hares catching and roasting hunters. In 1546, possibly under Italian influence, Cranach composed the ''Fons Juventutis'' (''[[The Fountain of Youth (Cranach)|The Fountain of Youth]]''), executed by his son, a picture in which older women are seen entering a [[Renaissance]] fountain, and exiting it transformed into youthful beauties.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=Cranach, Lucas |volume=7|last1= Crowe |first1= Joseph Archer |author1-link= Joseph Archer Crowe |page=364|short=1}}</ref>