Martyrdom of St. Lawrence
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
sheet: 8 15/16 x 13 3/16 in. (22.7 x 33.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1922
Accession Number
22.67.55
Tags
Art Historical Context
Welcome to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints collection, where Hans Baldung Grien's *Martyrdom of St.* (ca. 1505) captures a pivotal moment in Christian hagiography. This wood depicts the gruesome execution of St. Lawrence, 3rd-century deacon martyred on a gridiron during the Roman persecution under Emperor Valerian. Roasted alive for refusing to renounce his faith, Lawrence's story symbolized unwavering devotion and became a staple in Renaissance religious art, inspiring devotion among Northern European audiences amid the era's religious fervor. Printed on a modest sheet m...
About the Artist
Hans Baldung (called Hans Baldung Grien) · 1484–1545
Hans Baldung Grien (1484/85–1545), born in Schwäbisch Gmünd into an erudite family of jurists and physicians, forsook academia to pursue art. His early training around 1500 took place in the Upper Rhineland, likely Strasbourg, before he apprenticed under Albrecht Dürer in Nuremberg from 1503 to 1507. There, the young artist honed his skills in painting, printmaking, and stained glass, even managin...