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Erasmus of Rotterdam

A work made of engraving in black on ivory laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of engraving in black on ivory laid paper.

Date:

1526

Artist:

Albrecht Dürer
German, 1471-1528

About this artwork

Albrecht Dürer idolized the learned Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus, famously noting in his diary that Erasmus should take over for the Protestant revolutionary Martin Luther, whom Dürer feared had been killed. The artist and the scholar met three times in the Netherlands in 1520–21, and Dürer gave Erasmus several prints and drew his portrait. Erasmus also praised the artist, observing that, like artists of antiquity, “What cannot Dürer express in monochromes, that is, by black lines only?” Fittingly, Dürer’s expansive monochrome engraving includes Latin and Greek captions complimenting Erasmus’s scholarship, with his hefty tomes piled along its lower edge.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Albrecht Dürer

Title

Erasmus of Rotterdam

Place

Germany (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1526

Medium

Engraving in black on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Image/plate: 25.1 × 19.3 cm (9 15/16 × 7 5/8 in.); Sheet: 25.8 × 19.7 cm (10 3/16 × 7 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.

Reference Number

1956.957

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/4118/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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