Five Landsknechte and an Oriental Man on Horseback
c. 1495
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
13.2 × 14.5 cm (5 1/4 × 5 3/4 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
111843
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Dürer may have been the first printmaker to engrave a group of Landsknechte, a theme that proved exceedingly popular, as the adjoining prints by Urs Graf, Master M. Z., and Daniel Hopfer confirm. The Master M. Z. engraving may be the second earliest such image, and it borrows costuming and stances from this sheet. In a large, early woodcut seen nearby, Dürer popularized the knight and Landsknecht genre, highlighting the hierarchy between mounted cavalry and foot soldiers.
About the Artist
Albrecht Dürer · 1471–1528
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) stands as the preeminent figure of the Northern Renaissance and arguably the most influential artist in the history of printmaking. Born in Nuremberg on May 21, 1471, and dying in the same city on April 6, 1528, Dürer revolutionized the status of the artist in Northern Europe, transforming printmaking from a commercial craft into an independent fine art and establishing ...