St. Andrew from Christ and the Apostles
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 1/8 × 4 11/16 in. (20.6 × 11.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1962
Accession Number
62.635.836
Tags
Art Historical Context
This woodcut, created in 1519 by Hans Baldung Grien, depicts Saint Andrew as part of a larger series titled *Christ and the Apostles*. Measuring just over eight inches tall, the print captures the saint with the expressive line work and bold contrasts typical of 16th-century German printmaking. Baldung, active during the Northern Renaissance, used the woodcut medium to make religious imagery widely accessible through reproducible prints. The subject of Saint Andrew reflects the era’s deep interest in the lives of the apostles, figures central to Christian devotion and teaching. Woodcuts like ...
About the Artist
Hans Baldung (called Hans Baldung Grien) · 1484–1545
Hans Baldung Grien (1484/85–1545), born in Schwäbisch Gmünd into an erudite family of jurists and physicians, forsook academia to pursue art. His early training around 1500 took place in the Upper Rhineland, likely Strasbourg, before he apprenticed under Albrecht Dürer in Nuremberg from 1503 to 1507. There, the young artist honed his skills in painting, printmaking, and stained glass, even managin...