The cover. Madonna and child in a landscape.

摘要

The Nazis had a passion for art, but their tastes were selective. They traced their cultural lineage from Greek sculpture through German masters such as Cranach and Al-brecht Durer to Austro-Bavarian landscape and genre painting of the 19th century. The Nazis believed that art should be monumental and pristine, and they defined artworks that were distorted or difficult to comprehend as "degenerate" (JAMA cover, September 12, 2007). By elevating the importance of German artists and Nazi aesthetics, they justified their conquest of Europe as the natural expansion of a superior culture. In this context, a painting by Cranach was prized by Nazi leaders because it was old, its quality was unimpeachable, and it was painted by a German.