St. John the Baptist Holding the Lamb
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 in. × 5 11/16 in. (20.3 × 14.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926
Accession Number
26.72.108
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the early 16th century, German artist Baldung Grien, a talented pupil of Albrecht Dür, created this striking woodcut *St. John the Baptist the Lamb* around 1517. Measuring just 8 by 5 11/16 inches, this intimate print captures the saint tenderly cradling the Lamb of—a profound Christian symbol representing Jesus as the sacrificial savior foretold in scripture. Baldung's Northern Renaissance style shines through in the delicate, expressive lines that convey both spiritual serenity and subtle emotional depth, hallmarks of his innovative printmaking. Woodcuts like this one were revolutionary ...
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...