Dürer / Artist-Biographies

by M. F. Sweetser

Portraits.—The Emperor Maximilian, 1519; the Emperor; Ulrich Varnbühler, 1522; Albert Dürer, 1527.

Heraldic Subjects.—The Beham Arms; the Dürer Arms, 1523; the Ebner-Furer Arms, 1516; the Kressen Arms; the Shield of Nuremberg; the Shield with three Lions’ Heads; the Shield with a Wild Man and two Dogs; the Scheurl-Zuiglin Arms; the Stabius Arms; the Staiber Arms.

Miscellaneous Subjects.—The Judgment of Paris; Hercules; the Rider; the Bath; the Embrace; the Learner, 1510; Death and the Soldier, 1510; the Besieged City, 1527; the Rhinoceros, 1515; the Triumphal Chariot of Maximilian, 1522; the Great Column, 1517; a Man Sketching; two Men Sketching a Lute; a Man Sketching a Woman; a Man Sketching an Urn; Hemispherium Australe; Imagines Cœli Septentrionalis; Imagines Cœli Meridionalis; the Pirkheimer Title-border; six Ornamental designs; two title-borders.

The Great Passion (12 cuts; 1510).—Ecce Homo; the Last Supper; the Agony in the Garden; the Seizing of Christ; the Flagellation; the Mocking; Bearing the Cross; the Crucifixion; Christ in Hades; the Wailing Maries; the Entombment; the Resurrection.

The Little Passion (37 cuts; 1511).—Ecce Homo; Adam and Eve; the Expulsion from Eden; the Annunciation; the Nativity; the Entry into Jerusalem; the Cleansing of the Temple; Christ’s Farewell to His Mother; the Last Supper; the Washing of the Feet; the Agony in the Garden; the Kiss of Judas; Christ before Annas; Caiaphas Rends his Clothes; the Mocking; Christ and Pilate; Christ before Herod; the Scourging; the Crowning with Thorns; Christ Shown to the Jews; Pilate Washing his Hands; Bearing the Cross; the Veronica; Nailing Christ to the Cross; the Crucifixion; Descent into Hell; the Descent from the Cross; the Weeping Maries; the Entombment; the Resurrection; Christ in Glory Appearing to His Mother; Appearing to Mary Magdalen; at Emmaus; the Unbelief of St. Thomas; the Ascension; the Descent of the Holy Ghost; the Last Judgment.

The Life of the Virgin (20 designs; 1511).—The Virgin and Child; Joachim’s Offering Rejected; the Angel Appears to Joachim; Joachim Meeting Anna; the Birth of Mary; the Virgin’s Presentation at the Temple; the Betrothal of Mary and Joseph; the Annunciation; the Visitation of St. Elizabeth; the Nativity; the Circumcision; the Purification of Mary; the Flight into Egypt; the Repose in Egypt; Christ Teaching in the Temple; Christ’s Farewell to His Mother; the Death of the Virgin; the Assumption; the Virgin and Child with seven Saints.

The Apocalypse of St. John (16 designs; 1498).—The Virgin and Child Appearing to St. John; His Attempted Martyrdom; the Seven Golden Candlesticks and the Seven Stars; the Throne of God with the Four-and-twenty Elders and the Beasts; the Descent of the Four Horses; the Martyrs Clothed in White and the Stars Falling; the Four Angels Holding the Winds, and the Sealing of the Elect; the Seven Angel Trumpeters and the Glorified Host of Saints; the Four Angels Slaying the Third Part of Men; John is Made to Eat the Book; the Woman Clothed with the Sun, and the Seven-headed Dragon; Michael and his Angels Fighting the Great Dragon; the Worship of the Seven-headed Dragon; the Lamb in Zion; the Woman of Babylon Sitting on the Beast; the Binding of Satan for a Thousand Years.

There are 261 other wood-engravings described in the catalogue attached to Scott’s “Life of Dürer,” and ranked as “doubtful.” Many of these are held to be authentic by one or more of the three critical authorities on Dürer’s works,—Heller, Bartsch, and Passavant. Other connoisseurs, however, ascribe them to different engravers of the early German schools, mostly to pupils and colleagues of Dürer.

ENGRAVINGS ON COPPER.

Bible-Subjects.—Adam and Eve, 1504; the Nativity, 1504; the Passion on copper (16 designs), 1508-13; Crucifixion, 1508, 1511; Little Crucifixion, 1513; Christ Showing His Five Wounds; Angel with the Sudarium, 1516; two Angels with the Sudarium, 1513; the Prodigal Son, 1500; the Virgin and Anna; Mary on the Crescent Moon, no date; Mary on the Crescent Moon, 1514; Mary with a Crown of Stars, 1508; Mary with the Starry Crown and Sceptre, 1516; Mary Crowned by an Angel, 1520; Mary Crowned by two Angels, 1518; the Nursing Mary, 1503; the Nursing Mary, 1519; Mary with the Swaddled Child, 1520; Mary under a Tree, 1513; Mary by the Well, 1514; Mary with the Pear, 1511; Mary with the Monkey, no date; the Holy Family with the Butterfly, early work.