Vertical Panel with Candelabrum Grotesques Containing Cornucopias and Sphinxes
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 5 11/16 × 2 in. (14.5 × 5.1 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926
Accession Number
27.23.79
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the mid-16th century, engraver Heinrich Aldegver crafted this exquisite *Vertical Panel with Candelabrum Grotes Containing Cornucopias Sphinxes* (1552), a petite engraving measuring just 5 11/16 × 2 inches. Aldegrever, a master of the Northern Renaissance "Little Masters" for their intricate small-scale prints, specialized in ornamental designs that bridged art and craft. This work exemplifies his skill in engraving—a meticulous intaglio technique where lines are incised into a metal plate, inked, and pressed onto paper to yield sharp, durable details ideal for reproducing decorative motifs...
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...