The Penitence of Saint John Chrysostom (1509): Artwork and History

The Penitence of Saint John Chrysostom (1509) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Lucas Cranach the Elder German, 1472-1553.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Court painter to the Duke of Saxony at Wittenberg, Cranach became a prolific designer, apothecary, political and religious counselor, and propagandist for the court. This is Cranach's most important engraving, in a rare, early impression. It depicts the legendary remorse of the great 4th-century Bishop of Constantinople, who succumbed to the attractions of the emperor's daughter and then wandered the wilderness in penitence.

Object facts

• Title: The Penitence of Saint John Chrysostom
• Date: 1509
• Artist attribution: Lucas Cranach the Elder German, 1472-1553
• Place of origin: Germany
• Medium: Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
• Dimensions: Image/plate/sheet: 26 × 20.2 cm (10 1/4 × 8 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1961.372

Collection credit

Clarence Buckingham Collection

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.