2. Lucas van Leyden
(1494-1533)

A Young Man with Eight Armed Men

(click on image to print)
van Leyden, A Young Man

A Young Man with Eight Armed Men

Engraving, ca. 1510, 110 x 79 mm., Bartsch 142, Hollstein 142, Niemeijer 142 a (of b). Very good and clear impression, though lacking the range of tone of the best ones, on laid paper without watermark, trimmed to or just outside the borderline, essentially on the platemark. The image, showing Lucas’ typical beautifully drawn hands and misshapen feet, is one of those secular mysteries of the Northern Renaissance that make one question what is really going on here and why the artist chose to immortalize it. 1510 was the year of several of Lucas’ genre plates, at least two of which have since been shown to have allegorical significance. This one may also.