421 



CRAMER, GABRIEL. 



C RANKER, THOMA& 



433 



the Earliest Times," in 3 vols. These appeared in 1844 in the series 

 of ' Knight's Weekly Volume ;' as did also ' Spenser and his Poetry,' 

 in 3 vols., in 1845 ; and 'Bacon, his Writings and his Philosophy,' in 

 1846. In the same series, in 1847, he issued a concluding volume of 

 the 'Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties,' containing female 

 examples only. In 1849 Mr. Craik was appointed professor of history 

 and English literature in Queen's College, Belfast, where he has ever 

 since resided. Besides the works mentioned above, he is the author 

 of the 'Romance of the Peerage,' in 4 vols., 1849-52; and 'Outlines 

 of the History of the English Language," 1855. The above are his 

 principal literary labours, but he has also contributed largely to some 

 of the reviews and other periodical works. Scrupulous accuracy, 

 unwearied research, and sound criticism, united with an ardent desire 

 for the safe and gradual advance of all that may practically improve 

 the condition of society, are the leading characteristics of Mr. Craik's 

 writings. Few have laboured more earnestly in the cause of general 

 education. 



CRAMER, GABRIEL, born 1704 at Geneva; died 1752 at 

 Bagnols. He was professor of philosophy at Geneva, and author of a 

 large number of works, for a list of which the ' Biog. Univ.' refers to 

 Se'nebier, ' Hist. Litt. de Geneve.' We have here only to mention him 

 aa the editor of the works of John and James Bernoulli, of the corre- 

 spondence of the former with Leibnitz, and to notice his ' Analyse des 

 Lignea Courbes Alge'briques,' Geneva, 1750. This work is the largest 

 collection of examples which exists, and is of permanent utility to 

 elementary writers. So far as expressions entirely algebraical (as 

 distinguished from transcendental) arc concerned, it is a complete 

 treatise on the elementary theory of curves. 



CRANACH, LUCAS, one of the most celebrated of the old German 

 painters, was born at Cranach, near Bamberg, in 1472. According to 

 a prevailing custom of the time, he was called after the place of his 

 birth, sometimes also Meister Lucas, and Lucas Mahler, or Luko the 

 Painter, from which appears to have originated the false name of Lucas 

 Muller ; his family name was Sunder. 



He was apparently instructed by his father, and in his twenty-third 

 year (1495) was appointed court-painter to the Elector of Saxony ; he 

 served in this capacity the electors Frederic the Wise, John the 

 Constant, and John Frederic the Magnanimous. In coneequence of 

 this appointment, Cranach settled in Wittenberg, the residence of 

 Frederic the Wise, lived there forty-six years, and earned wealth and 

 reputation in abundance ; ho was owner of several houses there, and 

 was for many years burgomaster of the place. In 1493 he accom- 

 panied the elector Frederic the Wise to Palestine to the Holy Sepul- 

 chre, and made drawings of all that was remarkable and interesting 

 there. For this elector Cranach painted a series of portraits of his 

 ancestors. Cranach was particularly attached to the elector John 

 Frederic, and when that prince was taken prisoner by Charles V., after 

 the battle of Miihlberg, in 1547, he interceded with the emperor in 

 hia behalf, though to little purpose. Charles was well disposed 

 towards Cranach, and requested him to accompany him to the Nether- 

 lands. He had a portrait of himself as a boy, by Cranach, at Mechlin, 

 Hud he aeked the painter when it was painted ; Cranach informed him 

 when he was eight years old, and that to attract his attention so as 

 to enable him to paint the portrait, a beautifully painted arrow was 

 -tuck in the wall opposite to where the emperor sat. The narration 

 pleased the emperor, and he dismissed him with a present of a silver 

 plate of Hungarian ducats, of which however Cranach took very few ; 

 and be persisted in bis refusal to accompany the emperor to the 

 Netherlands. He would not leave his prince the elector John 

 Frederic, with whom he shared his five years' imprisonment at Inns- 

 bruck, and upon his release in 1552 his eldest son and Cranach were 

 his only companions on his return home. Cranach retired to Weimar, 

 and died there in the following year, which was the eighty-first of his 

 age, according to the inscription to his memory in the church of 

 St. Jakob. 



Cranach was acquainted with many of the principal men of his time 

 and country : he and Luther were intimate friends, and he ia said to 

 have brought about the marriage of Luther and Catherine Bora. He 

 appears to have painted Luther's portrait many times, nearly all of 

 which have been engraved, some of them by several engravers. He 

 was acquainted with Melancthon and Bugenbagen. Cranach had 

 several sons and daughters : Johann, the eldest, studied painting in 

 Italy, and died young at Bologna in 1536; another son, Lucas Cranach 

 the younger, was born in 1515, and died in 1586 as burgomaster of 

 Wittenberg, and with the reputation of a distinguished painter. After 

 Cranach's death a medal was struck at Wittenberg to his honour, with 

 his portrait on one side, and the arms granted to him by Frederic the 

 WUe in 1508, consisting in a crowned winged serpent upon a gold 

 ground, on the other. 



The principal works of Cranach were executed between 1506 and 

 1540, and they are nearly all still in Germany, especially in Upper 

 Saxony. In the Dresden Gallery there are twelve, in that of Vienna 

 fourteen, at Munich eight, and at Berlin there are twenty -three 

 attributed to him, but they are mostly of small dimensions. His 

 masterpieces are his altarpieces in various Saxon churches, and one of 

 the principal of these is the large mystical representation of the 

 ' Crucifixion ' in the church of Weimar. It is painted on a large 

 panel, with folding wings, which are painted on both sides. The 



composition is ^scarcely intelligible, and is selected without taste ; it 

 contains portraits of John Frederic and his family, and of Cranach 

 and Luther, which are the best figures in it ; it is executed with all 

 the laborious care and exactness of the best German painters of that 

 period, i Cranach was inferior to Albert Diirer alone in his best period, 

 and Diirer's superiority ia confined to design and composition. A 

 description of this altarpiece more remarkable for its execution, size, 

 and singularity, than any other qualities was published with en- 

 gravings by H. Meyer, at Weimar, in 1813. 



In colour, and in all respects except elegance of design, unity of 

 effect, and composition, in which he was wholly deficient, Cranach was 

 one of the most distinguished painters of his time ; and in execution 

 he was one of the most laborious artists that have ever lived. He 

 was a good portrait painter, an excellent animal painter, and also a 

 good miniature painter and illuminator of manuscripts. There arc 

 several manuscript volumes containing drawings in miniature by 

 Cranach in the library of the University of Jena. Cranach is said to 

 have also engraved both in copper and wood, and many works are 

 attributed to him, but with, very little certainty ; there are however 

 many prints in both styles after his works, but few of them probably 

 were executed by himself. 



There are many German notices of Cranach, more or less detailed, 

 early and recent, and there are at least three distinct lives of him : 

 the first was written by Professor Christ, and published in the ' Acta 

 erudita et curiosa de Franconia,' Niirnberg, 1726 ; a second was pub- 

 lished in 1761, at Hamburg, by C. E. Reimer, ' Historiseh-critische 

 Abhandlung iiber das Leben und die Werke Lucas Cranaehs ; ' the 

 last is the very full life by J. Heller, ' Lucas Cranaehs Leben und 

 Werke,' Bamberg, 1821 ; and Schadow's ' Wittenbergs Denkmiiler cler 

 Bildnerei, Baukunst, und Malerei,' &c., Wittenberg, 1825, contains 

 descriptions and engravings of works of both the Cranaehs. Con- 

 cerning the engravings and wood-cuts attributed to Crauach, sea 

 Bartsch, ' Peintre-Graveur." 



CRANMER, THOMAS, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, the 

 second son of Thomas Cranmer and Agnes, daughter of Laurence 

 Hat&eld, his wife, was born at Aslacton, in Nottinghamshire, on the 

 2nd of July 1489. The respectable family from which he descended 

 had been settled in that county for some generations. His first 

 instruction was received at a village school, from which he was 

 removed by hia mother, who had become a widow, and who placed 

 him, in 1503, at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he became a Fellow 

 in 1510-11. He applied with great diligence to the studies of tho 

 university : Greek, Hebrew, and theology were the principal objects 

 of his industry. Before he was twenty-three years old Cranmor 

 married a woman of humble station but respectable character, a kins- 

 woman of the landlady of the ' Dolphin ; ' and having in consequence 

 forfeited his fellowship, accepted the appointment of lecturer in Buck- 

 ingham (now called Magdalene) College. The duration of this 

 employment was very short ; for in about a year after his marriage, 

 his wife having died in childbed, by a somewhat irregular proceeding 

 he was restored to his fellowship at Jesus College. The agents of 

 Wolsey, who had founded this celebrated college at Oxford, were now 

 searching the kingdom for men of talent and learning to fill the 

 vacant chairs in that establishment ; and Cranmer was distinguished 

 by them with the flattering offer of high and lucrative employment. 

 After some hesitation, he refused the new dignities. In 1523 he took 

 the degree of D.D. During his residence in the university, he had 

 undertaken, in addition to his other duties, the charge of educating 

 two sons of a Mr. Creasy, who was connected with him by marriage ; 

 and when the sweating sickness broke out in Cambridge (1528), retired 

 to that gentleman's house at Waltham Abbey, where he was occupied 

 with the instruction of his pupils and tho prosecution of his studies. 

 This change of residence influenced the remainder of his life. By 

 order of Henry VIII., six men of learning had been chosen from each 

 university to discuss the validity of his marriage with his brother's 

 widow, Catharine of Aragon ; and Cranmer, among others, was selected. 

 His absence from Cambridge however prevented him from giving his 

 assistance to the delegates, who finally elected a substitute in hii 

 place. Either accidentally or by design, Gardiner and Fox (after- 

 wards bishops of Winchester and Hereford) being in attendance upon 

 the king, who was on a journey, met Cranmer at Mr. Cressy's table, 

 and inquired anxiously tho opinion of so distinguished a man upon 

 the all-absorbing matrimonial question. He replied, that although ho 

 had not given much consideration to the question, he thou<?ht tho 

 course to be followed appeared to be sufficiently simple. The case 

 should be determined by reference to the Bible should be settled by 

 divines, the most proper persons to determine it, and by those of the 

 English universities, who were as well fitted to entertain it as those of 

 Rome or any foreign country. The report of this judgment, which 

 was not wholly new, gave great satisfaction to the king, who imme- 

 diately sent a messenger to require his attendance at the palace. 

 Unwilling to forsake a life of study and retirement, Cranmer endea- 

 voured to excuse himself from attending at court. His excus39 how- 

 ever did not avail ; and the reluctant adviser having been graciously 

 received, was commanded to reduce his opinion to writing, and 

 consigned to the hospitality of Lord Wiltshire, tho father of Anno 

 Boleyn. The opinion was soon written. It asserted that the marriage 

 of Henry with his brother's widow was condemned by the authority 



