Martin Luther, Rolling Deep Cover

[Michael Dykema]

In April, 1521, Martin Luther came before the Imperial Diet assembled at the city of Worms in southern Germany. He traveled with the special protection of Emperor Charles V, as a Papal excommunication the previous year left him exposed to arrest. Staunchly Catholic, Charles summoned had Luther to the Diet to defend his unorthodox theological views, which had been spread widely in the previous three years. Called upon by his old adversary, Johann von Eck, to recant his previous printed statements and reaffirm the supremacy of the Papacy in the interpretation of Scripture, Luther refused. He believed that to do so would be to submit to tyranny and to act against God. This defiance of Church and Emperor made Luther an outlaw, subject to arrest, extradition to Rome as a heretic, and possible (probable?) torture at the hands of the Inquisition. Before the final edict by the Emperor was issued, however, Luther was hustled off by his sovereign, Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony, to safety in Saxon territory.

It is in this context that the painting in question, Luther Als Junker Joerg by Lucas Cranach the Elder, was created. Cranach was the court painter to the Saxon electors and a close friend of Luther's. He depicts Luther in disguise during his confinement in the Wartburg castle, where Frederick had stashed him for his own protection. The title means "Luther as Knight/Noble George" and refers to the false identity which Luther had adopted during this period. Usually clean-shaven and attired as the monk he still was, Luther here appears in the guise of a nobleman, with a thick beard and dressed in the manner of a gentleman. Compared to the more familiar images of Luther, unbearded and rotund, the gaunt figure here is almost unrecognizable. The strain of the dispute with Pope and Emperor is evident in his face.

Another interesting aspect of this painting is the incorporation of the image into a later work by Cranach, an altarpiece he painted for the Elector's church in Wittenberg, a depiction of the last supper. Among the apostles, Cranach includes the by-then familiar image of Luther as Junker Joerg. This has meaning on two different levels. The first is the obvious one of placing Luther on an equal footing with Jesus's disciples; he is the prophet of the true church, against the falsehood of the Papacy. The other aspect of this is a reference to a dispute that occurred between Luther and his colleague and rival Andreas Bodenheim von Carlstadt. With Luther tucked away in the Wartburg, Carlstadt had led a radical faction of reformers who removed images like altarpieces from the churches of Wittenberg, claiming that they contributed to idolatry. Luther opposed this move and, upon his return from internal exile, restored the images to the churches. By placing Luther himself into an altarpiece, Cranach refers to this incident.

[John Lee]

Very interesting review. I am inserting the image of Luther you mentioned above. It certainly makes for an interesting contrast. I suspect our modern day view of Luther is very much wrapped up in one's personal religious experience. The reading of this image could be shaped by the degree to which one might be open to viewing Luther as repressed in the way that the Cranach image conjures.