The Two Elders Stoned by the People
Medium
etching
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.226
Art Historical Context
In the National Gallery of Art's Rosenwald Collection, Heinrich Aldegrever's *The Two Elders Stoned by the People* (1555) is a etching that captures a dramatic biblical scene from the Book of Daniel the Apocrypha. image depicts the punishment of two lecherous elders who falsely accused the virtuous Susanna of adultery; exposed by the young Daniel, they face stoning by an outraged crowd. Aldegver, a German artist from Soest active during the Northern Renaissance, was renowned as one of the "Little Masters" for his masterful small-scale prints filled with intricate detail and moral intensity. C...
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...