Hercules Slaying the Dragon
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.256
Art Historical Context
**Hercules Slaying the Dragon *Heinrich Aldegrever, 1550* Print; Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Department CG-E Step into the heroic world of Renaissance mythology with Heinrich Aldegrever's *Hercules Slaying the Dragon* (1550), a dynamic print from the National Gallery of Art Rosenwald Collection. Aldegrever, a masterful German engraver active in the mid-16th century, captures the legendary strongman Hercules in triumphant combat against a fearsome dragon—one of his famous Twelve Labors. This scene draws from classical myths, symbolizing human triumph over chaos, a popu...
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...