Christ Blessing the Children

Lucas Cranach the Younger and Workshop's Christ Blessing the Children from around 1545-50 depicts the Gospel scene in which Jesus welcomes children, a subject with special significance in Lutheran theology as a demonstration of the accessibility of divine grace. The Cranach workshop, which Lucas the Younger inherited from his father, was the visual arm of the Protestant Reformation, producing religious paintings, portraits, and altarpieces for Lutheran churches across Germany.

The oil-on-beech panel demonstrates the Cranach workshop's efficient, distinctive style with clear, flat colors, precise drawing, and smooth surfaces. The figures show the characteristic Cranach physiognomic types with their distinctive almond-shaped eyes and simplified features.