Ornamental Design with a Bat in the Center
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 2 in. (7 × 5.1 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1920
Accession Number
21.11.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
Heinrich Aldegrever, a masterful German engraver and goldsmith active during the Northern Renaissance, crafted *Ornamental Design with Bat in the Center* 1550. Thisutive engraving, measuring just 2¾ × 2 inches, exemplifies the "Little Masters" styleartists renowned for their exquisitely detailed small-scale prints. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, it was acquired through the Rogers Fund in 0. At its heart, a bat commands attention, encircled by whimsical motifs like playful satyrs, delicate dragonflies, and curling shells. These elements evoke the gro...
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...