print;
book-illustration
- Museum number
- 1911,0708.75
- Description
-
Theuerdank defeats another hostile knight; Theuerdank on horseback has hit the other knight with his lance, forcing both the knight and horse to fall over. The other knight has also already been struck by an arrow in his forehead. Behind Theuerdank and his enemy Ernhold on left and Neidelhardt on right on horseback. Illustration to Melchior Pfinzing, 'Theuerdank'.
Woodcut
- Production date
-
1511-1517 (circa)
-
1526 (Printed circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 168 millimetres
-
Width: 150 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- The Theuerdank is another allegorical (auto-)biography of Emperor Maximilian I. Written by his secretary Max Trautsaurwein and Melchior Pfinzig, the book mainly deals with Maximilian's (Theuerdank's) adventures on his journey to his bride Mary of Burgundy (Erenreich). Its first edition, published under Pfinzing's name and illustrated with woodcuts by Hans Burgkmair the Elder and Hans Schäufelein, as well as Beck, was printed by Johann Schönsperger in Augsburg in 1517. While this was only intended for a small circle of friends, a second edition already appeared in 1519 after Maximilian's death. The Theuerdank contributed significantly to Maximilian's image as 'the last knight', and was issued in several editions until the seventeenth century.
See 'Neues vom Weisskunig. Geschichte und Selbstdarstellung Kaiser Maximilians I. in Holzschnitten', exh. cat., Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, ed. Hans-Martin Kaulbach, Karlsruhe 1994.
The BM also has a bound vellum copy of the Theuerdank (158 a.3). The set of 44 mounted impressions without text are later than the first edition. They all have a four-line border serving as a passe-partout. See Dodgson, 'Cat. of German and Flemish woodcuts...', vol. 2, p. 123, note 3.
The illustration numbers in the comment field to the Dodgson bibliography entry refer to the position of the respective image within the entire book.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Theuerdank
- Acquisition date
- 1911
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1911,0708.75
