Exhibition at Musee du Luxembourg in Paris Spotlights German Master Lucas Cranach

PARIS (AP).- Like an enterprising Andy Warhol of the 16th century, German Renaissance master Lucas Cranach the Elder produced multiple paintings of the same subject, churning out strikingly similar versions of his trademark soft-edged nudes and angel-faced Madonnas. This penchant for repetition did nothing for Cranach’s reputation, and for centuries he was overshadowed by another giant of German art, Albrecht Durer. A new exhibition at Paris’ Musee du Luxembourg aims to restore Cranach’s image by highlighting his unique, velvety style and showing how the artist — the official painter for the Saxon court of Wittenberg and a friend of reformer Martin Luther — reacted to the tumult of his epoch. Opening on Wednesday, “Cranach and his Times” includes 50 paintings and engravings of his perennial subjects, Adam and curvaceous Eve at the apple tree, Madonnas with chubby Christ children and even chubbier cherubs,

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