Saint John, from The Four Evangelists
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 3/4 × 3 1/16 in. (12 × 7.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Edwin De T. Bechtel, 1949
Accession Number
49.132.64
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *Saint John, from The Four Evangelists*, a engraving created in 1539, attributed to the German Renaissance artist Heinrich Aldegre, with possible involvement from fellow engraver Georg Penc. Measuring just 4 3/4 × 3 1/16 inches, this intimate print exemplifies the "Little Masters"—printmakers renowned for their masterful work on a tiny scale during the Northern Renaissance. Aldegre, a goldsmith-turned-engraver from Soest, was a key figure in producing affordable, reproducible religious imagery amid the Protestant Reformation, when evangelists like John symbolized the authority of script...
About the Artist
Heinrich Aldegrever|Georg Pencz · 1502–1561
Heinrich Aldegrever, born in 1502 in Paderborn, Westphalia, to parents Herman and Katherine Trippenmeker—a family of clog-makers known by the dialect name Trippenmecker—emerged as a multifaceted artist in the German Renaissance. His early training remains undocumented, though he likely apprenticed in a Soest goldsmith's workshop after relocating there around 1525, where he joined the painters' gui...