Equestrian Portrait of the Emperor Maximilian I
Medium
Woodcut from two blocks in black and gold on vellum
Dimensions
Image: 31.8 × 22.5 cm (12 9/16 × 8 7/8 in.); Sheet: 32.3 × 23.5 cm (12 3/4 × 9 5/16 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
12791
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This unique woodcut is printed in black and powdered gold inks on vellum. It may be the most opulent result of the Emperor Maximilian’s competition with Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony and his court artist, Lucas Cranach. That contest produced an early form of chiaroscuro printing, a technique using black line blocks and colored tone or blocks for lighting effects. Indeed, as the only known impression of the Equestrian Portrait printed in black and gold on vellum, the Chicago print may well...