Design for a Dagger Sheath, with Executioner and Head of John the Baptist 1529

Heinrich Aldegrever made this design for a dagger sheath as an engraving on paper, during the Northern Renaissance. The combination of the biblical and the ornamental reminds us that the Reformation was a period of immense social change. Aldegrever was German, and Germany was where Martin Luther launched his challenge to papal authority in 1517. Here, the image of an executioner standing over the severed head of John the Baptist shares space with scrolling foliage. The scene of violence may be an allegory for the religious violence of the Reformation. But it’s also possible that the artist was simply combining traditional religious imagery with secular ornament for a patron. The ambiguity we encounter when interpreting this image is a reminder that art, like history, is always contingent on its social and institutional context. To understand the image better, we might consult sources that tell us about the social and political conflicts of the Reformation, as well as pattern books that tell us about the traditions of ornament.