Two Fencers, from Fencers, plate 7
Medium
Etching and engraving.
Dimensions
Sheet: 9 13/16 x 7 1/2 in. (25 x 19 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
Accession Number
49.95.2331(5)
Tags
Art Historical Context
"Two Fencers, from Fencers, plate 7" (1552) is a dynamic print from a collaborative series by Dutch Renaissance artist Maarten van Heemskerck, with engravings by Cornelis Bos and Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert. Created during the Northern Renaissance, this etching and engraving—measuring 9 13/16 x 7 1/2 inches—captures two muscular male nudes locked in a tense fencing duel, swords poised mid-clash. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, it exemplifies the era's fascination with classical antiquity and human anatomy. Heemskerck, inspired by his travels to Italy,...