The Fight with the Nemean Lion, from The Labors of Hercules
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 3/16 × 2 3/4 in. (10.7 × 7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Felix M. Warburg and his family, 1941
Accession Number
41.1.112
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *The Fight with the Nemean Lion*, a dynamic engraving by Heinrich Aldegrever from his series *The Labors of Hercules*, created in 1550. This tiny yet powerful print (just 4 3/16 × 2 3/4 inches) captures the mythological hero Hercules in his first labor: wrestling the fearsome Nemean Lion, whose impenetrable hide made it invincible to weapons. Aldegrever masterfully depicts the intense struggle, with Hercules' muscular form locked in combat against the snarling beast, evoking the raw heroism of classical antiquity. As one of the "Little Masters" of the Northern Renaissance, Aldegrever w...
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...