He also worked independently and ran a painting school where many of his most famous works originated. As well as illustrations for the Reformation texts and woodcuts for the Lutheran Bible in 1534, he created numerous altarpieces, and was renowned for what Albrecht Dürer described as "naked pictures". Adam and Eve, Lucretia and Venus were prominent subjects of these nude works. Lucas Cranach also painted portraits of many of the Wittenberg reformers, including Philipp Melanchthon and Johannes Bugenhagen.
Cranach's painting workshop was not his only source of income, he was also a wine merchant, alderman and publisher, owned a printing press and apothecary, ran a tavern, and was the mayor of Wittenberg on more than one occasion. Cranach was one of the richest men in Wittenberg and lived with his family in two houses on the market square. Around 1512, he married the daughter of the mayor of Gotha, Barbara Brengbier, who bore him five children. Cranach formed a close bond with Martin Luther and his family. He was a witness to his marriage and godfather to his first-born son. Cranach was also the only artist to paint a portrait of Luther while he was alive.
When John Frederick the Magnanimous was imprisoned during the Schmalkaldic War, Cranach followed his Elector to Augsburg and later Weimar, where he died on October 16, 1553.
