# Sibylle of Cleves

- By: Lucas Cranach (German, 1515–1586)
- Date: c. 1547
- Medium: woodcut with hand-coloring
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: Image: 32.6 x 21.4 cm (12 13/16 x 8 7/16 in.)
- Culture: Germany
- Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/2026.20)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2026.20/2026.20_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This hand-colored woodcut depicts Sibylle of Cleves, wife of Johann Friedrich of Saxony, shortly after the Schmalkaldic War (1546–47), when Protestant princes in Germanic lands fought against the Catholic emperor Charles V. After her husband’s defeat, Sibylle famously pleaded before the emperor on bended knee, helping secure commutation of his death sentence. Produced by Lucas Cranach the Younger around 1547, the print belongs to a series portraying key figures in the conflict and may have functioned as Protestant propaganda for distribution to allied courts. Sybille of Cleves was the only woman portrayed in the series.