Some artists sign their works with a symbol instead of with their written name. My favorite of all these artist’s symbols was the one employed by the great German gothic painter Lucas Cranach. Ferrebeekeeper has already written about Lucas Cranach’s troubling allegory Melancholy, his fascination with severed heads and femme fatales, and his magnificent depiction of animals. Cranach usually signed his works with a black winged serpent holding a ruby ring in its jaws and wearing a crown. It fills me with frustration that I didn’t think of it first—imagine signing the water bill with that!
There are various different versions of the serpent. Cranach changed it around—especially when he signed printed artworks. Elector Frederick the Wise granted the winged serpent with a crown and ruby ring to Cranach as a coat of arms on January 6th, 1508, but nobody is sure what it means. Some art historians have speculated that it is an astrological or alchemical symbol. Others believe it may be a lost pun concerning some aspect of Cranach’s name or have some allegorical meaning too subtle to fathom. The actual explanation seems lost in mystery (which is probably how Cranach would like it). Whenever I see a Cranach painting in a museum, the search for his serpent sigil is part of the fun.
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September 10, 2013 at 8:41 PM
James Miller
Lucas Cranach (Maler) the Elder is my direct Great Grandfather through his son Hans Cranach. My lineage is a direct male line of first born who still use the sigil as our family crest to this day. Our family name changed under Gustav Maler in 1914 from Maler to Miller to facilitate the anti-German sentiments in the United States of the time. After consideration, I believe we should change it back to Maler. Lutheranism is still also widely practiced in my family. Thank you for such a wonderful post.
September 11, 2013 at 8:52 PM
Wayne
What an amazing family history! Congratulations and thanks for sharing the story. I like the name Maler better than Miller (and I think it would make it easier to exist in an age where one needs a distinctive name). Kindly let us know if you start painting beautiful allegories of dark forests and lovely young women holding severed heads so we can find out just how hereditary artistic talent is…
April 1, 2014 at 7:36 PM
joseph Littleshoes
…. i wonder if there might be some biblical reference to the serpent of Eden, which some people have suggested was an attempt to demonize a symbol of ancient wisdom, “Gnosis” Sopia & etc …..
April 4, 2014 at 4:43 PM
Wayne
Cranach was really into paintings of Eden (and the story in Genesis is quite ambiguous)–so you could well be right.
May 31, 2014 at 10:49 AM
rodrigo
My family have a Cranach ‘ s paint. We would like to send for a museum
May 31, 2014 at 9:32 PM
Wayne
Whoah…what an amazing treasure! I’m sure almost any museum would want to display it for you…
May 6, 2019 at 12:34 PM
Anj Craynock
My late husbands family are also direct descendants of Lucas Cranach (both elder and younger). Sadly the name dies with us on this end. My husband passed before we had children (only child) and his father only has sisters. Nevertheless, thank you for showing appreciation. He takes great pride in this stuff and knowing people are still appreciating his work is awesome.
May 16, 2019 at 11:32 PM
Wayne
I am sorry for your loss, but thank you for sharing the heritage of your artistic name! I am impressed that Cranach’s descendants (and their surviving spouses) are still out there. His art and heritage will not fade and it sounds like his kinspeople are likewise out there (even if the name is vanishing from our patriarchal society).