Alcon Slaying the Serpent

Prints and Drawings

1510–15

Hans Wechtlin, I
German, 1480/85-after 1526

Hans Wechtlin was one of the earliest German printmakers to make color woodcuts. This classical subject exists in blue-gray impressions as well as the present olive-green version; the tone block would simply have been printed in a different color with the black key block. The story portrayed in this work, slightly obscure even during the Renaissance, was mentioned by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. The woodcut depicts the Cretan Alcon saving his son from strangulation by a serpent with his excellent archery skills. His writhing young child is reminiscent of the snake-wrapped boys in the more famous Laocöon sculpture unearthed in Rome only a few years earlier, in 1506.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Hans Wechtlin, I
Title: Alcon Slaying the Serpent
Place: Germany (Artist's nationality)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1510–1515
Medium: Chiaroscuro woodcut printed from two blocks in black and olive green on cream laid paper
Dimensions: Image/block/sheet: 27.4 × 18.3 cm (10 13/16 × 7 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: William McCallin McKee Memorial Endowment
Reference Number: 1938.1128
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/89481/manifest.json

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