Design for a Candelabra Grotesque with a Bat in the Center
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 11/16 x 2 in. (6.8 x 5.1 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.783
Tags
Art Historical Context
Heinrich Aldegrever's *Design for a Candel Grotesque with a in the Center* (1550) is a exquisite example of Renaissance ornamental engraving from the Northern German tradition. Aldegrever, one of the renowned "Little Masters," specialized in intricate small-scale prints like this one, measuring just 2 11/16 x 2 inches. Created as an engraving—a meticulous technique where the artist incised fine lines into a metal plate for inking and printing—this work exemplifies the precision possible in miniature formats, ideal for disseminating decorative ideas across Europe. Grotesques, inspired by ancie...
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...