Martin Luther (1483–1546), Abbildung des Bapstum (Depiction of the Papacy)

In their polemical attacks on the Catholic Church, Lutheran propagandists made good use of humour, especially in their visual elements. ¹ These woodcuts by the artist Lucas Cranach were commissioned by Martin Luther. Their aim was to articulate key aspects of the ideology of the Lutheran Reformation to a wider audience using pictures accompanied by captions. To ridicule and tarnish the prestige of the Pope and Catholic establishment, the Lutherans used crude humour that was obviously designed to provoke laughter.