Horatius Cocles Leaping into the Tiber

Artist: Albrecht Altdorfer, German, c.1480–1538
Date: 1520–26
Material: Engraving
Classification: Prints
Collection: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Current Location: Not on view
Dimensions: plate: 2 5/8 x 1 7/16 in. (6.6 x 3.7 cm)
sheet (irregular): 2 11/16 x 1 9/16 in. (6.8 x 4 cm)
Credit Line: Museum Purchase
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 66:1949

NOTES

This print depicts a moment of extraordinary patriotic courage from ancient history. Altdorfer represented Roman general Horatius Cocles’s climactic jump into the Tiber after he had single-handedly kept the Etruscans from crossing the bridge into Rome. His countrymen busily dismantled the bridge while Cocles kept the Etruscans at bay until the last fragment of the bridge collapsed, forcing him to jump.

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