1515
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
The Fall and Redemption of Man: Joachim's Offering Rejected by the High Priest is a 1515 by Albrecht Altdorfer, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This woodcut shows Joachim kneeling as the high priest rejects his offering. The priest stands tall, robes stiff, while Joachim’s face drops. Other men watch in the background, some with angry looks. Altdorfer packs lots of drama into one small block. The priest’s sharp staff points down like a judgment. The woodcut feels rough where the lines cut deep into the block. Cutting the sheet in half kept four prints per page. See more like this at The Cleveland Museum of Art.
These eight woodcuts come from a series of forty which illustrate the story of Christian redemption from original sin to the Last Judgement. Probably to maximize printing efficiency and quality, eight woodblocks were printed on each of five sheets of paper, but the subjects are not in the correct chronological order. Prior to sale, the sheets were cut into eight pieces. The sheets in the museum's set were only cut in half, preserving four prints per page. The numbers after the titles of the individual images indicate each scene's place within the narrative. By 1513, Altdorfer had already…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480 – 12 February 1538) was a German painter, engraver and architect of the Renaissance working in Regensburg. Along with Lucas Cranach the Elder and Wolf Huber he is regarded to be the main…
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