As court artist, Cranach often accompanied his patron, Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, on hunting excursions to his numerous hunting lodges, drawing book in hand. Cranach produced a number of paintings and murals of hunts and animals, for which he received great renown in his time. This woodcut, dating from 1506, is his earliest and largest hunting print. Composed of two separate blocks, it vividly depicts the outing in narrative form. Moving clockwise from the upper left, one can follow the elector’s dogs as they give chase, culminating in a stag’s demise at the lower left, possibly by the hand of the elector himself. The lodge, probably the castle at Lochau, is seen in the distance.