Emperor Maximilian I

c. 1518

Albrecht Dürer

Associated Names
Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

The image is a bust-length portrait of a man in profile facing the right. He appears middle-aged with distinctive facial features including a prominent nose, baggy eyes, and a slightly furrowed expression. His hair is medium length, slightly wavy, and gray or light-colored. He wears a cap with an emblem or medal at the front, and his garment is decorated with ornate patterns resembling brocade. Around his shoulders, he wears a chain with large links and a pendant with multiple ornaments. The background is a plain surface with a decorative border and text above the man's head, stating his title as "Imperator Caesar Divus Maximilianus Pius Felix Augustus."

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    woodcut on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to block): 41.3 × 32.1 cm (16 1/4 × 12 5/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1980.45.455

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Meder, no. 255, block 3, state II/III

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

British Museum, London (Lugt 300 and Lugt 305, duplicate). (William H. Schab, New York); purchased 1964 by Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], Jenkintown, PA; gift to NGA, 1980.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1987

  • Graphic Survey Show, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., November 1987.

2000

  • The Power of Appearances: Renaissance and Reformation Portrait Prints and Medals, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover; The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, 2000-2001.

2012

  • Imperial Augsburg: Renaissance Prints and Drawings, 1475-1540, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX; Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, 2012-2014, no. 84, repro. fig. 3.

2017

  • Albrecht Dürer: The Age of Reformation and Renaissance, Cincinnati Art Museum, 2017.

Bibliography

1932

  • Meder, Joseph. Dürer-Katalog; ein Handbuch über Albrecht Dürers Stiche, Radierungen, Holzschnitte, deren Zustände, Ausgaben und Wasserzeichen. Vienna: Verlag Gilhofer und Ranschburg, 1932. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971.

2001

  • Schoch, Rainer, Mattihas Mende, and Anna Scherbaum. Albrecht Dürer: Das druckgraphische Werk. Munich, 2001: vol. 2: no. 252.

2012

  • Kennicott, Philip. "The Passion of the Renaissance, via Germany." Washington Post 135, no. 300 (September 30, 2012): E5.

2016

  • Brisman, Sheila. Albrecht Dürer & the Epistolary Mode of Address. Chicago, 2016: 148-149, fig. 15.14.

Inscriptions

verso, lower left center, in graphite by a later hand: O.C. 11855; lower right center, in graphite by a later hand: CA I. 334. 140A; bottom left, in black ink, by a later hand: From E. 2. 333.; bottom left corner, in graphite by a later hand: B.VII 163 154; bottom center, in graphite by a later hand: duplicate of 1895,0122.738

Wikidata ID

Q18339676

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