Knight, Death, and the Devil, Albrecht Dürer

Artwork Overview

Knight, Death, and the Devil, Albrecht Dürer
Knight, Death, and the Devil, Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Knight, Death, and the Devil
1513
Albrecht Dürer, artist
1471–1528
Knight, Death, and the Devil, 1513
Where object was made: Holy Roman Empire (present-day Germany)
Material/technique: engraving
Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 245 x 189 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 9 5/8 x 7 7/16 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 19 3/4 x 14 3/4 x 1 1/2 in
Weight (Weight): 5 lbs
Credit line: Gift of the Max Kade Foundation
Accession number: 1969.0091
Not on display
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Label texts

Spencer Museum of Art Highlights

This print and two others, St. Jerome in his Study and Melancholia I, are generally considered the high point of Dürer’s own elaboration of a medieval classification of the virtues as operating in three different spiritual areas: moral, theological, and intellectual. The theme of Christian humanistic morality of this print further derives from Erasmus’s Handbook of the Christian Soldier (published in 1504). Dürer’s classically proportioned Christian knight and his mount here progress steadfastly forward with moral rectitude, unflinchingly indifferent to the grotesque phantasms conjured up in a wild and menacing Northern landscape.

Google Art Project

This print and two others, St. Jerome in his Study and Melancholia I, are generally considered the high point of Dürer’s own elaboration of a medieval classification of the virtues as operating in three different spiritual areas: moral, theological, and intellectual. The theme of Christian humanistic morality of this print further derives from Erasmus’s Handbook of the Christian Soldier (published in 1504). Dürer’s classically proportioned Christian knight and his mount here progress steadfastly forward with moral rectitude, unflinchingly indifferent to the grotesque phantasms conjured up in a wild and menacing Northern landscape.

Under Construction

An aging knight in full armor rides a magnificent horse through a dangerous landscape. He stoically looks forward, his hands firmly grasping the reigns. Just behind the knight, the horned Devil lurks, watching. The Devil’s body is a composite of different animal parts that artist Albrecht Dürer carefully studied and accurately rendered. To the left, the rotting corpse of Death holds an hourglass, which calls attention to the Knight’s mortality. With serpents curled around his decaying neck, Death sits atop a decrepit steed, echoing the Knight’s pose. In the distance, a hilltop village may offer rest and safety for the knight on his journey.
Scholars have put forth a number of interpretations for Knight, Death, and the Devil. While some have identified the knight as a specific person, others believe that he is a representation of the virtuous Christian knight or solider described by Erasmus in Instructions for the Christian Soldier (Enchiridion militis Christiani), published in 1504. In his book, Erasmus describes a scene similar to the one depicted in Dürer’s engraving. Alternatively, the work might act as a momento mori, a reminder of life’s transience and the inevitability of death.

Exhibitions

Dürer's Echo: Five Centuries of Influence
Stephen Goddard, curator
1999
Masterworks on Paper: The Max Kade Gift in Perspective
Stephen Goddard, curator
1993
Under Construction
SMA Interns 2014–2015, curator
Cassandra Mesick, curator
Supervisor, curator
2015–2016
Google Art Project
2016
Images of Love and Death in Renaissance and Late Medieval Art
1975–1976
Nuremberg: A Renaissance City, 1500-1618
1983
Nuremberg: A Renaissance City, 1500-1618
1983
Nuremberg: A Renaissance City, 1500-1618
1984
From the Collection of the University of Kansas
1971
Brosseau Center for Learning: Western Art History Survey 2021
2021
Brosseau Center for Learning: The Worship, Aesthetics, Arts, and Music of the Judeo-Christian Tradition
2021
Brosseau Center for Learning: Translating the Past
2023

Resources

Audio

Didactic – Art Minute
Didactic – Art Minute
Episode 37 Jul-2005, Michelle Moseley Christian, History of Art Graduate Student I’m David Cateforis with another art minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. Over time, the original meaning of a work of art can be lost. Such is true of one of the treasures of the Spencer’s print collection, an engraving called “Knight, Death and the Devil,” made in 1513 by the German artist Albrecht Dürer. In this work, Dürer used only the swell and taper of lines to create the scene of an armored knight riding through a rocky landscape. The knight does not travel alone: Death in the form of a grinning cadaver rides alongside on a skeletal nag. Following close behind is the Devil-a hideous hybrid creature with the horns of a goat and a monstrous, pig-like face. Why does this motley crew proceed onward so purposefully? Perhaps the knight represents the ideal Christian, keeping to the straight and narrow path even as evil temptations beckon him? Or, is the soldier instead a pillaging marauder, terrorizing the countryside with his agents of destruction, Death and the Devil? Dürer remains mute on the subject of this famous print-he simply referred to his work as “the rider.” With thanks to Michelle Moseley Christian for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.