The Rich Man in Hell, Seeing Lazarus Embraced by Abraham, from The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 3 1/8 × 4 3/16 in. (8 × 10.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Henry Walters, 1917
Accession Number
17.37.132
Tags
Art Historical Context
In Heinrich Aldegrever's 1554 engraving *The Rich Man in Hell Seeing Lazarus Embraced by Abraham*, visitors witness a vivid depiction from the New Testament parable in Luke 16. The scene contrasts the torment of the wealthy man amid demons in the fiery pits of Hell with the comforting embrace of the poor beggar Lazarus by the patriarch Abraham in paradise. This moral tale warns of divine judgment, emphasizing charity and humility—timely themes during the Protestant Reformation, when such imagery reinforced ethical teachings across Europe. Aldegrever, a masterful German engraver of the Norther...
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...