Albrecht Dürer
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 19.4 × 15.8 cm (7 11/16 × 6 1/4 in.); Plate: 22.5 × 22.3 cm (8 7/8 × 8 13/16 in.); Sheet: 22.9 × 18.2 cm (9 1/16 × 7 3/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
41684
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Here Wenceslaus Hollar reproduced an Albrecht Dürer self-portrait painting (now in the Prado, Madrid) as an etching in reverse. In 1498, at the age of 26, Dürer depicted himself as a gentleman artist at the height of his creative prowess. On a diplomatic trip through Dürer’s hometown of Nuremberg in 1636, the Earl of Arundel received the painting as a gift for King Charles I of England. Hollar made the etching from the original for Arundel, who was his major patron.
About the Artist
Wenceslaus Hollar · 1607–1677
Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) was a prolific Bohemian etcher who became one of the most accomplished printmakers of the seventeenth century. Born in Prague, he trained under Matthäus Merian in Frankfurt before entering the service of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1636. Hollar spent most of his career in England, where he produced approximately 2,740 etchings documenting an extraordinary range...