The Good Samaritan Placing the Traveler on a Mule
Medium
etching
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.229
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
In the National Gallery of Art's Rosen Collection, Heinrich Aldegrever's 1554 etching *The Good Samaritan Placing the Traveler a Mule* captures a pivotal moment from the New Testament parable in Luke 10:25-37. Here, the compassionate Samaritan gently lifts the beaten traveler onto a mule after aiding him, embodying Christian virtues of mercy and neighborly love amid a society divided by prejudice. Aldegrever, a prominent German artist of the Northern Renaissance and one of the "Little Masters," specialized in such intricate small-scale prints that brought moral and biblical narratives to a wid...
About the Artist
Heinrich Aldegrever · 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...