Heinrich Aldegrever (ca. 1502–1555-1561)

• Was a German painter and engraver.
• Born in Paderborn.
• His real name was Trippenmecker, which in Westphalian dialect means a clog-maker.
• Aldegrever made a journey to the Netherlands.
• Around 1525 he moved to Soest, where a year later he painted the wings and predella of the Mary altar for the church of St. Peter.
• His first engravings appeared in 1527.
• They were signed with a monogram "AG".
• Aldegrever's produced some 290 engravings and woodcuts, from his own designs.
• From the close resemblance of his style to that of Albrecht Dürer he has also sometimes been called the "Albert of Westphalia".
• About a third of his prints were ornamental engravings.
• Aldegrever, who actively supported the Reformation, executed portraits of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon. • An important part of his oeuvre are prints on mythological subjects. 
• Only two paintings are firmly attributed to him: the wings and predella of the Marienaltar (c. 1525-6) in the Wiesenkirche in Soest, and a portrait of Graf Phillip von Waldeck in Schloss Aroldsen.
• The displayed painting is a crop from: Heinrich Aldegrever, Self-Portrait, 1537.
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