Mater dolorosa-Martin Luther's Image of Mary of Nazareth: an example in Lucas Cranach the Elder

Abstract

Protestantism is usually thought of as rejecting the figure of Mary as a collaborator in Christ’s redemption. In Luther’s commentary on the Magnificat (1521), we can see that this doctrine would continue to evolve throughout his life, and would not always be free of apparent ambiguities. Luther extolled the figure of Mary, but at the same time he could not avoid reinterpreting her according to the presuppositions of the doctrine of justification and his theology of the Cross, and he understands the figure of Mary as a Mater dolorosa, as one who participates in a special way in the sorrow of her Son. Her union with the Saviour means she shares his pain. In these lines, we intend to look at the main points proposed by the German reformer in his new perspective on Mariology, and the possible influence of this change in spirituality on painting, for example, in The Crucifixion (1532) by Luther’s personal friend Lucas Cranach the Elder, and we propose a comparison with The Lamentation of Christ (1502), painted before the Reformation.