The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 1/16 × 6 1/8 in. (20.5 × 15.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1927
Accession Number
27.54.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Albrecht Altdorfer’s 1512 woodcut, *The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist*, vividly portrays a dramatic biblical moment. In this compact sheet measuring roughly 8 by 6 inches, the artist presents the saint kneeling before his executioner amid a group of onlookers. The scene draws viewers into the tension of the event through carefully arranged figures and expressive gestures. Created during the Northern Renaissance, the woodcut medium allowed artists like Altdorfer to produce multiple impressions from a single carved block. This technique helped spread religious stories and artistic ideas m...
About the Artist
Albrecht Altdorfer · 1475–1538
Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480–1538) was a German painter, printmaker, and draftsman who stands as one of the founders of landscape painting as an independent genre. Born in Regensburg or nearby Altdorf, he learned art from his father Ulrich, a painter and miniaturist. Altdorfer spent most of his life in Regensburg, becoming a citizen in 1505 and later serving as the city's official architect and a m...