Albrecht Dürer at Age Fifty-Six
c. 1528
Medium
woodcut on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 28.5 x 23.4 cm (11 1/4 x 9 3/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Accession Number
1996.4.1
Art Historical Context
Behold *Albrecht Dürer at Age Fifty-S*, a poignant woodcut portrait created around 1528 by Erhard Schön a Nuremberg printmaker closely associated with the master himself. This image captures the renowned German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer in his final year—Dürer passed away in 1528 at precisely that age—serving as a heartfelt tribute from one generation of printmakers to another. Schön, influenced by Dürer's innovative, immortalized his mentor's dignified profile against a simple background, emphasizing Dürer's enduring legacy in Northern European art. Printed on laid paper, this woodcu...
About the Artist
Erhard Schön
He was famed as a popular printmaker, with attributions including around 1200 illustrations for 116 books and about 200 separate woodcuts. Among the best works are the woodcuts that he and Hans Springinklee made for the "Hortulus animae", published in Nuremberg in 1515 by Johannes Koberger. It was one of the most popular pre-Reformation anthologies of prayers, published in at least 20 German and L...