Ten Helpers in Need (copy)
after 1512
Medium
Woodcut, hand-colored
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 7/16 × 1 15/16 in. (6.2 × 4.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Harry Friedman, 1961
Accession Number
61.663.369
Tags
Art Historical Context
Hans Baldung Grien (. 1484–1545), a brilliant German Renaissance artist and close associate of Albrecht Dürer, was renowned for innovative woodcuts that blended stark drama, eroticism, and moral allegory. This hand-colored woodcut, *Ten Helpers in Need (copy)*, created after 1512, exemplifies his mastery of the medium during the Northern Renaissance. At a diminutive 2 7/16 × 1 15/16 inches, it reflects the era's fascination with intricate miniature prints, which were prized by collectors for their portability and jewel-like detail. Woodcuts like this were carved in relief on wooden blocks, in...
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...