The Four Apostles

Four monumental holy men fill two narrow panels: John the Evangelist and Peter at the left, Mark and Paul at the right, grave and sculptural in their great robes. Durer gave the pair to the council of his native Nuremberg, by then a Lutheran city, and had inscriptions added below - drawn from Luther's German New Testament - warning the rulers against false prophets and to hold fast to scripture. It was his last great work, at once a summation of his art and a Protestant testament. Cranach's portrait of Luther himself is also in this collection.