Pyramus and Thisbe
Hans Wechtlin · c. 1510 · Cleveland Museum of Art
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From the museum
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.
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0
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Details
- Maker
- Hans Wechtlin (German, 1480/85–after 1526)
- Date
- c. 1510
- Medium
- chiaroscuro woodcut
- Place of origin
- Germany
- Held by
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · Not on view
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
Image: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0
More by Hans Wechtlin
Shown in
- Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance ArtAug 26, 2017 – Dec 31, 2017
- Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the CollectionAug 17, 2003 – Nov 9, 2003
- Albrecht Dürer and His InfluenceJan 16, 1991 – Mar 10, 1991
- Printing in ColorSep 10, 1985 – Nov 17, 1985
- Old Master Prints and DrawingsJul 29, 1966 – Feb 28, 1967