Pyramus en Thisbe c. 1506 - 1538

Albrecht Altdorfer made this tiny woodcut print of Pyramus and Thisbe, measuring just a few inches, in sixteenth-century Germany. Altdorfer, working in Bavaria, ran a print shop, and the conventions of the time meant his engravings circulated among a relatively small, elite group of collectors. This image depicts a dramatic scene from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, two lovers from Babylon who kill themselves after misunderstanding each other's fate. Although set in the classical past, the figures' clothing, and even the landscape, is recognizably German. The tale of Pyramus and Thisbe, drawn from classical mythology, reflects the values of the elite class that consumed them. The dramatic, emotional content of the story reinforces the place of art and literature as central to the experience of those who had the leisure and education to appreciate it. Art historians can learn more by studying the cultural history of printmaking and the importance of classical texts at the time.