Stag Hunt of Elector John Frederick of Saxony

In 1544 the Protestant elector John Frederick of Saxony finished rebuilding Hartenfels Castle at Torgau on the Elbe, and the hunt in this picture is staged below it. The castle rises across the river, and in front of it stags are driven into the water and shot with crossbows by guests posted along the banks. The painter added guests who were never there. The museum identifies Emperor Charles V at the far left, beside the Elector Palatine Frederick, with John Frederick himself further forward, and Duke Philip of Brunswick under the tree in the middle. That spring the emperor and the Protestant princes had briefly made common cause at the imperial diet in Speyer. Three years later Charles defeated John Frederick in battle and took him prisoner. The coats of arms of the Palatinate and Saxony hang in the upper corners.