1550
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Hercules and Cerberus is a 1550 by Heinrich Aldegrever, a Northern Renaissance work, depicting Heracles, held at National Gallery of Art.
Hercules grips Cerberus by the throat with one hand, his club raised in the other. The three-headed dog snarls, foam dripping from its jaws. The scene is packed with action—muscles strain, fur bristles, and every figure looks ready to move. This wasn’t painted by a big-name artist like Dürer or Cranach. Heinrich Aldegrever was a small-town goldsmith who made prints and only painted a handful of works. Most of his art shows tiny, detailed figures in crowded spaces like this one. Check out how the muscles bulge under Hercules’ skin. If you like this, look up Aldegrever, Heinrich at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Heinrich Aldegrever or Aldegraf was a German painter and engraver. He was one of the "Little Masters", the group of German artists making small old master prints in the generation after Albrecht Dürer.
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