Knight, Death, and the Devil
Medium
engraving
Dimensions
24.4 × 19 cm
Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Elisabeth Severance Prentiss and Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Collections by exchange
Accession Number
1965.231
Tags
male
About this artwork
In this tour de force engraving, considered one of his three greatest “masterworks,” Albrecht Dürer portrayed a mounted soldier who resolutely forges through a dark gorge, ignoring a horned devil in his path. Confronted by Death itself, crowned with snakes and holding an hourglass indicating mortality, the soldier and his faithful dog demonstrate the strength of righteousness required to stay upon the right path. The skull underfoot suggests that others have not been so resolute. Indeed, this ro...