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 be the dedication impression sent to Frederick.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Hans Burgkmair, the elder
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Title
- Equestrian Portrait of the Emperor Maximilian I
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Place
- Germany (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- Made 1508
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Medium
- Woodcut from two blocks in black and gold on vellum
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Inscriptions
- Signed recto lower right, in black block, in image: “. H . BURGKMAIR”; dated in image on scroll: “1508”; inscribed upper center, in image under arch: “. IMP.CAES.MAXIMIL.AUG”
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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.)
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Credit Line
- Clarence Buckingham Collection
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Reference Number
- 1961.3
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/12791/manifest.json