Portret van Justus Jonas

1537

Runs his father's workshop after the death of his brother Hans

After the sudden death of his elder brother Hans (1513–1537), also a painter, with whom he had trained in their father's workshop, Lucas the Younger takes over the management of the workshop and greater responsibility for it. The works of father and sons are hard to tell apart, but he marked his own pieces with a modified coat of arms: its serpent has bird's wings instead of bat's wings.

20 February 1541

Marries Barbara Brück

He marries Barbara Brück, daughter of the Saxon chancellor Gregor Brück, Luther's legal adviser and a neighbour of Cranach in Wittenberg. The marriage produces three sons and a daughter; the two families are linked by another marriage as well: the artist's sister Barbara married Christian Brück, his wife's brother.

1549 · Karriere

the Wittenberg city council

He sits on the Wittenberg council in 1549 and again in 1552. Like his father, he holds an important place in the public life of the city; besides the workshop, he is a successful businessman and politician.

1550

Takes on full responsibility for the workshop

In 1550 Lucas Cranach the Elder leaves Wittenberg to join his patron, John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, in exile. The Younger takes on full responsibility for the flourishing family workshop and successfully maintains its high output and quality of work, including images of Reformers such as Luther himself; he was never a court painter, but worked for princes and nobles.

1550

His first wife, Barbara Brück, dies

The artist's first wife, Barbara Brück, the mother of four of his children, dies. A year later he marries Magdalena Schurff.

24 May 1551

Marries Magdalena Schurff

He marries Magdalena Schurff, daughter of the Saxon physician Augustin Schurff and niece of the humanist, theologian and church reformer Philipp Melanchthon. Of the five children of this marriage, his son Augustin (1554–1595) will also become a painter, as well as a councillor, city judge and treasurer of Wittenberg.