(Design for a Dagger and Sheath)

Art Historical Context

Step into the intricate world of Renaissance design with Augustin Hirschvogel's *Design for a Dagger and She* (1543), a delicate etching now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department. Measuring 14 7/16 x 3 9/16 inches, this print showcases Hirschvogel's mastery in capturing the elaborate ornamentation of a dagger hilt and matching sheath, adorned with fierce lions—a motif symbolizing strength and nobility in 16th-century Europe. schvogel, a-born artist active during the Northern Renaissance, was a pioneer in etching, a technique that emerged around 1510 and rev...

About the Artist

Augustin Hirschvogel · 1503–1553

Augustin Hirschvogel (1503–1553) was born in Nuremberg into a prominent family of stained-glass painters who dominated the city's glass workshops during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The son of Veit Hirschvogel the Elder (1461–1525), Nuremberg's official glazier who executed designs after Albrecht Dürer and Hans von Kulmbach, Augustin trained as a glass painter in his father's workshop. ...