Lucas Cranach the Elder: Portrait of Princess Sibylle of Cleve (1526)

(Stadtschloss Weimar, Weimar, Germany)

A nice painting from the German master Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472 – 1553). The sitter is Sibylle of Cleve at the age of 14. She was the eldest daughter of Duke John III of Cleves. At the age of 14 she was betrothed to Electoral Prince Johann Friedrich I of Saxony, also known as John the Magnanimous, and the couple married on 9 February 1527. Cranach stayed at the Saxon court so a lot of portraits are of Saxon nobility. Sibylle is represented here as a bride abd is wearing a beautiful dress with a tight-waisted gown with slashed and puffed sleeves over a high-necked chemise with a wide band at the neck. Her loose hair and the jeweled wreath of orange blossoms indicate that this is a bridal painting. Her sister Anne of Cleves became the fourth wife of King Henry VIII of England. Painting from 1526.