Copy of The Rich Man Transported to Hell, from "The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus"
after 1554
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 3 1/8 × 4 5/16 in. (8 × 10.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1957
Accession Number
57.658.32
Tags
Art Historical Context
Heinrich Aldegre, a prominent German engraver of the Northern Renaissance and member of the "Little Masters group, created this striking engraving *Copy of The Rich Man Transported to Hell* after 1554. Part of a series illustrating the Biblical "Parable of the Rich and Lazarus" from Luke 16, it captures the dramatic moment when the wealthy man, punished for his indifference to the beggar Lazarus, is dragged into the fiery torments of Hell by grotesque demons. Measuring just 3 1/8 × 4 5/16 inches, the intimate scale demands close viewing to appreciate its intricate details. Engravings like thi...
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...