Knight, Death and Devil

1513

Albrecht Dürer

Artist, German, 1471 - 1528

A man wearing a full suit of armor rides a horse on a narrow path alongside a ghoulish, skeletal creature wrapped in snakes and a goat-headed, horned creature, all set again sheer, rocky outcroppings that nearly fill this vertical engraving. The scene is created with fine, black lines built up in hatching and crosshatching to make deep shadows, and is printed on cream-white paper. The armored man rides toward our left in profile with a long lance resting on his right shoulder, farther from us, and the other hand holding the muscular horse’s reins. The lance extends off both sides of the paper and is wrapped with a fox’s tail near the top. The man’s face is wrinkled with deep-set eyes staring straight ahead. He has a prominent, bumped nose and wide mouth closed in a line, with the corner we can see pulled slightly up. The visor of his helmet is pushed up but his eyes are shielded from the creatures beyond the horse by the flaring sides of his helmet. Armor covers every inch of his body, including his hands and feet, and a long sword hangs at his left hip, closer to us. Spanning the width of the composition, his muscular horse walks with one front and one back leg raised and its chin pulled back, also looking straight ahead. A long-haired dog runs in the same direction between the horse’s feet over a lizard scrambling in the opposite direction. Seen between the armored man’s body and his horse’s head, the ghoulish creature at the side of the dirt path wears a spiky crown entwined with a snake and another serpent winds across his shoulders. The creature looks toward the armored man with round, piercing eyes, a hole where the nose should be, and a nearly toothless, gaping maw. He has a long, lanky beard and hair, and he holds up an hourglass topped with a clock-like dial. This creature also rides a horse, whose head hangs close to the ground. To our right, the goat-headed creature looks toward the armored rider with round eyes and its long snout slightly open to show fangs and teeth. Horns curl down to its shoulders and one long, sharp horn, dotted with spikes at the base, curves up and back over the creature’s face. It holds a double-pronged, spear-like halberd like a walking stick. Immediately beyond the group, rocky outcroppings push into the sky. The branches of barren trees and bushes are outlined against the blank, white sky and their craggy roots poke out of the rock. High on a hill in the deep distance is a castle complex or town. A plaque near a human skull resting on a tree stump in the lower left corner has the date of the print and the artist's monogram. "S. 1513" is followed by a "D" between the long legs of a capital "A."

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of W.G. Russell Allen

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to image): 24.8 x 19 cm (9 3/4 x 7 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1941.1.20

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Meder, no. 74, State a


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Yorck von Wartenburg [1805-1865], Klein Öls, Silesia (Lugt 2669); W.G. Russell Allen [1882-1955]; gift to NGA, 1941.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1971

  • Dürer in America: His Graphic Work, NGA, 1971, no. 58, repro.

1987

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

1991

  • Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1991-1992, no. 196, repro.

1997

  • Six Centuries/Six Artists, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997.

2000

  • The Fantastic in Renaissance Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2000.

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: no. 74, a.

1997

  • Richler, Martha. National Gallery of Art, Washington: A World of Art. London, 1997: 57, color fig. 18.

2001

  • Schoch, Rainer, Mattihas Mende, and Anna Scherbaum. Albrecht Dürer: Das druckgraphische Werk. Munich, 2001, vol 1: no. 69.

2013

  • Parshall, Peter. "Graphic Knowledge: Albrecht Dürer and the Imagination." Art Bulletin 95, no. 3 (September 2013): 393, 394, 395, 404-405, 406, fig. 1, 2

Inscriptions

in plate, bottom left on tablet: S 1513 / AD [artist's monogram]; verso, lower left, in graphite by a later hand: [illegible] Brooks [?] Coll [?]; verso, bottom left, in graphite by a later hand: B-20 [upside down]

Watermarks

none visible

Wikidata ID

Q1755464


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