print
- Museum number
- 1895,0122.745
- Description
-
Coat of arms of Albrecht Dürer, a shield with an open gate, surmounted by a helmet, eagle wings and the bust of a black man. 1523
Woodcut
- Production date
- 1523
- Dimensions
-
Height: 338 millimetres
-
Width: 258 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Lit: G.Bartrum, 'German Renaissance Prints', exh. cat. London, British Museum,1995, cat. no.45; G.Bartrum, 'Dürer and his Legacy' exh.cat. London British Museum, 2002-3, no. 9
Entry from 'Dürer and his Legacy':
"Dürer's arms were adopted from those of his father, seen on the back of his portrait of Dürer the Elder, 1490 (Uffizi, Florence; Anzelewsky no. 3). The main emblem of an open door, (German: 'Tür') is a literal interpretation of the family name which was taken from Dürer the Elder's birthplace in Hungary, Ajtós, meaning door. The eagle's wings and the bust of a black man are emblems often seen in south German heraldry and were used by the Nuremberg family of Dürer's mother, Barbara Holper. The design of the woodcut is similar to that of Dürer's woodcut portraits of this date, with which it is also comparable in size. The hatched background, and the illusionistic device of extending the image into the border ( in this case, the tips of the feathers extend into the area normally reserved for inscriptions) is also seen in his portrait of Ulrich Varnbüler of 1522 (cat.no 163). By far the majority of printed coats of arms to have survived are small book-plates. This coat of arms belongs to a recognisable category of larger versions, which have survived in fewer numbers and which had a more hard-wearing function. It is possible that Dürer used it like a large label, to identify property or belongings while he travelled."
See Sloane 5218-68 for Dürer's preparatory sketch for the print. For a facsimile lithograph by Retberg, see 1870,0813.331.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1971 BM, Dürer, no.262
1995 Jun-Oct, BM, 'German Renaissance Prints, 1490-1550', no.45
- Acquisition date
- 1895
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1895,0122.745
