Skip to main content

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • The Collection
  • Projects & Publications
  • Past Exhibitions

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Image

Previous 1 2 3 / 3 Next

Georg Pencz, designer

Thetis and Chiron, 1543

Description

Maker

  • Georg Pencz, ca. 1500-1550, German, designer

Title

Thetis and Chiron

Year

1543

Medium

Engraving, trimmed within platemark

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • engraving

Supports

  • Light weight laid paper

Dimensions

Plate: 13.5 x 18.7 cm (5 5/16 x 7 3/8 inches)

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Prints

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

71.005

Projects & Publications

Publications

The Brilliant Line

Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650
Read Online

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Brilliant Line

September 18, 2009 - January 3, 2010

Georg Pencz and Hans Sebald Beham worked in Reformation Nuremberg during and after Dürer’s life. Called the “Little Masters” for the predominately small format of their prints, these engravers were direct technical successors of Dürer. However, Italian engravings would have been readily available for study by the 1540s and thus their works can be placed in the context of Marcantonio Raimondi’s influence as well. The copious dot-work found on the figures and the passages of parallel lines that define the form of legs and arms may in fact owe more to Italian models than to Dürer.

Pencz’s image conflates two stories, a confusion that may be attributed to the engraver, or to the misleading inscription at the upper right. The inscription indicates that the scene represents the centaur Chiron’s instruction of the Greek hero Achilles. Though Achilles is present in the right background, it is Hercules, another of Chiron’s pupils, who is more prominent, having just killed his first lion. The central female figure is likely Achilles’ mother, Thetis. To confuse things further, the hoofed figure of Chiron is shown not as a centaur (half man/half horse) as legend requires, but a satyr (half man/half goat).

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Thetis and Chiron with the accession number of 71.005. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

RISD Museum

  •  Facebook
  •  Twitter
  •  Instagram
  •  Vimeo
  •  Pinterest
  •  SoundCloud

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Secondary

  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use