Images

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=F537F8631E037DA4B748A4D73BE741D58B2183C9029881DA1B400741138AC7DC&s=24247294&se=307119930&v=2&f=1950.396_o2.jpg

Additional Views

Aug 12, 2009

Pyramus and Thisbe

c. 1510

Hans Wechtlin

(German, 1480/85–after 1526)

Germany, 16th century

Chiaroscuro woodcut

John L. Severance Fund 1950.396

Catalogue raisonné: Geisberg IV,p.1457

Location

not on view

Description

In Metamorphoses, written by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC–AD 17), the parents of Pyramus and Thisbe forbid them to marry, so the young lovers conspire to meet at a mulberry tree beside a spring. Thisbe arrives first, but flees when she sees a lion fresh from a kill. She accidentally drops her veil, which the lion bloodies while playing with it. When Pyramus arrives, he finds the bloody veil, falsely concludes that Thisbe had been killed, and plunges his sword into his side. Here, Thisbe discovers her dead lover. Wechtlin borrowed the figures of the star-crossed lovers from an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi, but changed the natural spring into an ornamental fountain topped with a statue of cupid.

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 648 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 110 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 110 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 126 archive.org

Altdorfer, Albrecht, Jiří Fajt, and Susanne Jaeger. Das Expressive in der Kunst 1500-1550: Albrecht Altdorfer und seine Zeitgenossen.
Berlin : Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2018. Mentioned: p. 33; reproduced: p. 34, abb. 10

Exhibition history

35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).

Prints 1400-1800. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (December 18, 1956-January 20, 1957); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (February 1-March 3, 1957); Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (November 1-December 1, 1957).

Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959).

Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 6-September 9, 1965).

Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-February 28, 1967).

Printing in Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-November 17, 1985).

Albrecht Dürer and His Influence. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 16-March 10, 1991).

Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003).

Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-December 31, 2017).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Pyramus and Thisbe|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1950.396|author=Hans Wechtlin|year=c. 1510|access-date=27 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.

You are here:

Images

Pyramus and Thisbe

Pyramus and Thisbe

Hans Wechtlin

Location

Download and Share

Description

Contact us