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The Christ Child Vanquishes the Pope Monster / The Catholic Church

Peter Gottlandt1552

Renaissance and Reformation. German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach

Renaissance and Reformation. German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach

Based on the iconography of Saint George fighting the dragon, the Christ Child is depicted on a rearing horse fighting a monster with an angel’s, a Turk’s, and a pope’s head (cf. cat. no. 37). In contrast to the majority of Reformation polemical broadsheets, the technique of copperplate engraving was used here; it permitted noticeably subtle rendering of details but only in shorter print runs.

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  • Title: The Christ Child Vanquishes the Pope Monster / The Catholic Church
  • Creator: Peter Gottlandt
  • Date Created: 1552
  • Physical Dimensions: 14.5 × 19.5 cm
  • Technique and Material: Copperplate engraving
  • Provenance: Old inventory, acquired prior to 1877
  • Museum: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett
  • Inv.-No.: 206–1881
  • ISIL-No.: DE-MUS-018511
  • External Link: http://www.smb.museum/museen-und-einrichtungen/kupferstichkabinett/home.html
  • Copyright: Photo © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett/ Dietmar Katz; Text © Renaissance and Reformation: German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach, A Cooperation of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Catalogue of the Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Nov 20, 2016 – March 26, 2017, Munich: Prestel, 2016; cat. no. 43 / Michael Roth
  • Catalogue: https://prestelpublishing.randomhouse.de/book/Renaissance-and-Reformation/Stephanie-Buck/Prestel-com/e504919.rhd
  • Artist Dates: 1501 Gotland, Sweden–1572 Weimar
  • Artist Biography: The artist, born Peter Rodelstedt in the Swedish province of Gotland, was an assistant in the Cranach workshop in Wittenberg around 1537; he is thought to have been the only copperplate engraver in this extremely productive atelier. From 1553 to 1556 Gottlandt was the court painter of Duke Frederick the Magnanimous of Saxony in Weimar, as the direct successor of Lucas Cranach the Elder.
Renaissance and Reformation. German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach

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