Ornament with Trophy of Arms
Medium
engraving
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.311
Art Historical Context
**Ornament with Trophy of** is a captivating engraving by Heinrich Aldegrever, a masterful German artist from the Northern Renaissance, created in 1550. Aldegrever, active in Soest, Westphalia, was one of "Little Masters," renowned his intricate small-scale prints that packed monumental detail into compact formats. This work, housed in the National Gallery of Art's Rosenwald Collection, exemplifies his skill in ornamental design, featuring a trophy of arms—a symbolic arrangement of weapons, shields, and helmets evoking martial glory and Renaissance ideals of chivalry. Engraved on a metal plat...
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...