Herrscher, from the series Vom Tode Zweiter Teil
1903 (published 1904)
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Image: 6 15/16 × 13 1/16 in. (17.6 × 33.1 cm) Sheet: 10 1/4 × 15 3/8 in. (26.1 × 39.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Leo Wallerstein, 1924
Accession Number
24.4.61
Tags
Art Historical Context
Max Klinger’s *Herrscher* (Ruler), created in 1903 and published the following year, belongs to his ambitious print cycle *Vom Tode, Zweiter Teil* (“On Death, Part Two”). A leading figure of German Symbolism, Klinger used the series to explore mortality, power, and the human condition through haunting, allegorical scenes. The title suggests a meditation on authority and its limits, rendered with the artist’s characteristic blend of realism and dreamlike unease. Executed as an etching, the work demonstrates the medium’s capacity for fine linear detail and tonal richness, allowing Klinger to we...
About the Artist
Max Klinger · 1857–1920
Max Klinger, born on February 18, 1857, in Leipzig to a wealthy family, emerged as one of Germany's most innovative artists across painting, sculpture, printmaking, and graphics. Demonstrating early talent, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe in 1874 as a pupil of Karl Gussow, following his teacher to the Berlin Academy upon Gussow's appointment as director, and graduated in 1877 ...