Hercules Fighting the River-God Achelous, from The Labors of Hercules
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 3/16 × 2 5/8 in. (10.7 × 6.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Henry Walters, 1917
Accession Number
17.37.127
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *Hercules Fighting the River-God Achelous*, a dynamic 1550 engraving by Heinrich Aldegrever, part of his series *The Labors Hercules*. This tiny masterpiece (just 4 3/16 × 2 5/8 inches) captures a thrilling episode from Greek mythology, where the hero Hercules battles the shape-shifting river god Aous for the hand of Deianira. Aldegrever, a leading German printmaker of the Northern Renaissance and one of the "Little Masters" known for their exquisite small-scale works, draws on classical tales to celebrate Herculean strength amid swirling chaos—note the dramatic male nudes and fantastic...
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...