Art Institute of Chicago

Caspar Hedio

Hans Baldung Grien

Date

1543

Medium

Woodcut in black on ivory laid paper

Culture

Germany

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Here Hans Baldung Grien depicted the theologian Caspar Hedio, who may have been a longtime acquaintance of the artist, as an uncompromising individual with an intense gaze. The woodcut appeared as the author portrait in Hedio’s Selected Chronicle of the World, from Its Beginnings until the Year 1543 . Hedio’s furrowed brow, darting eyes, and clenched fingertips reveal his aggressive character, an effect greatly enhanced by the change from the original soft silverpoint drawing to these harsh woodcut lines. A leader of the Protestant Reformation, Hedio had a reputation as a fiery preacher who advocated stridently for expanding the Reformation to unconverted territories.

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