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Video: What symbols did Dürer encrypt on the eerie engraving "Knight", and Why did they say that he was driven by the fear of death
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The work of Albrecht Durer "Knight, Death and the Devil" made a splash in Europe in the XVI century! But even nowadays it causes awe and somewhere even horror. But do you know the secrets hidden in this engraving? And most importantly, is it true that death accompanied Dürer from childhood, and it was this fear that influenced the creation of the famous work?
History of creation
The Knight, Death and the Devil was completed by Albrecht Durer in 1513. The engraving was created in the Nuremberg period of the artist, when he carried out orders of the Emperor Maximilian and lived in Nuremberg, devoting himself to engraving. Unlike many works of that time, it was not created to order.
It is customary to include the "Knight" by Durer in the group of engraving workshops, which includes the three most famous works by Durer - "Melancholy", "Saint Jerome in a Cell" and "Knight, Death and the Devil". Interestingly, all three engravings were written in the same time period, all three were made on copper and of approximately the same size (24.5 x 19.1 cm). Although the prints are not a trilogy in the strict sense of the word, they are closely related and complementary. Moreover, they correspond to the three virtues in medieval scholasticism - theological, intellectual, and moral. It is curious that Dürer used his 15-year-old drawing in the engraving about the "Knight"! Thus, the first ideas of such an exciting and terrifying plot appeared with the painter at the age of 20. In addition, Dürer, who is fond of anatomy, used the study of the dog and the proportions of the horse. It is also believed that the prototype of the "Knight" served as a masterpiece by Verrocchio. The equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, created by the Italian sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio, is strikingly similar in pose and dress to the noble knight of the engraving. I can see the statue of Dürer built in 1496 during my trip to Venice in 1505–1507.
There is a curious story in the title of the engraving. Dürer himself called the work differently. When the 42-year-old artist completed the engraving in 1513, he named the piece The Horseman. Yes, this work may look like a drawing at first glance, but in reality it is a finely detailed engraving. Dürer used a chisel ("cold chisel") to carve out patterns on a hard, flat surface (in this case, copper). In these chiseled niches, in turn, minimal quantities of ink were poured. And then the image became clear.
Plot
The main object of the work is a knight, depicted in armor and on a horse. He has a sword and a long spear tied with a fox's tail. A dog accompanies him. Behind the horses we see a skeleton with a pointed crown and a snake around its neck. In his hands is an hourglass. Following the knight is an anthropomorphic figure that looks like a goat. In the distance, the city-fortress is visible, which further emphasizes the alienation of the knight from society. In the lower right corner, in the foreground, there is a skull and a plaque with the artist's monogram and the date 1513. Rather than roughly carving his signature into the painting, the German engraver placed his initials and date on a plaque in the lower left corner of the painting. The way he carved his ADs served as a kind of Dürer logo that allowed him to defend his rights to sell his prints as they moved across Europe. The figures in the foreground are surrounded by rocky landscape and fragile trees.
Symbolism
Death enveloped in snakes and the goat-faced devil speak for themselves. The main message of the engraving is the symbol of death. But there are other symbols hidden in the work. The knight's shining armor is believed to symbolize his strong Christian faith. The hourglass in the hand of Death represents the futility of human life. A fox tail, pierced by a knight's spear and left behind him, means a lie, while a dog running alongside personifies truthfulness and loyalty. The disappearing lizard hints at an impending danger. The skull below is definitely impending death. Dürer, who studied human anatomy along with other scientific disciplines, may have been fascinated by skulls for aesthetic reasons. But he knew about their symbolic meaning in the Holy Roman Empire and throughout the rest of Europe. Inanimate skulls that appeared in the process of decomposition symbolize human mortality and are often depicted on tombstones as a reminder to the living that their days on earth are numbered.
Driving steadily through the dark Scandinavian gorge, Durer's knight rides past Death on a pale horse that holds out an hourglass. He reminds a knight - life is short. The devil follows him. As the personification of moral virtue, the rider, modeled on heroic equestrian portraits, is not distracted and is faithful to his mission. The engraving is a testament to how Dürer's thought and technique brilliantly combined in his engraving workshop.
The theme of death in the life of Dürer
Death has been hovering around Dürer since childhood. Of his 17 siblings, only two survived to adulthood. Outbreaks of illness prompted him to write in his diaries: “Everyone who is among us today can be buried tomorrow” and “Always seek grace. As if you could die at any moment. Death was a real and constant threat to the artist, whose dedication to his faith meant that he was deeply afraid of damnation. Aware of this concern, the observer could read The Knight as one of the artist's self-portraits. There is also an opinion that the trilogy of Dürer's masterful engravings refers to the stages in the stage of mourning “from stoicism (“Knight, Death and the Devil”) to denial (“Saint Jerome”) and despair (“Melancholy”). It is likely that the series became a kind of psychological response from Dürer about the death of his mother in 1513.
A few years after the creation of The Knight, Dürer became one of the most sought-after artists in Northern Europe. He boldly rejected offers to work as a court artist and even called these masters "parasites". He himself focused on engraving, producing hundreds of copies for sale across the continent. This replication sparked a revolution that made art massive and accessible to the majority (lesser-known Dürer's prints could be bought at very low prices). Meanwhile, his keen eye for detail and remarkable carving helped transform the engraving into a real fine art. Ultimately, it was his incredible engravings that made him the most famous painter of the German Renaissance.
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