Albrecht Dürer: The Master Prints
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
October 6 - December 11, 2005
November 2004 marked the end of more than fifty years’ wait for the Johnson Museum’s print collection. With the acquisition of a rich, early impression of Albrecht Dürer’s 1513 engraving Knight, Death, and the Devil, the trio of the German artist’s so-called master prints is at last complete at Cornell. The other two engravings, St. Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514) were given in 1947 by William P. Chapman, Jr., Class of 1895.
Works on paper can only be exposed to light for short periods and must be “rested” for a period of years afterward. This exhibition provides a rare opportunity to see all three master prints together.
“These prints represent the pinnacle of Dürer’s skill as an engraver, and their complex, often arcane symbolism has made them a subject of fascination and debate for almost five centuries,” said Andrew C. Weislogel, assistant curator and master teacher at the Johnson Museum. “They provide a feast of symbols and visual details to stimulate discussion and astonish the eye.”
Although there is no evidence to suggest that Albrecht Dürer created the three prints as a series to be marketed together, as he did with many of his prints, there are several elements linking them together. They are almost identical in size, and each features a skull, a dog, and an hourglass. Dürer made them during a point in his career when he was focused exclusively on engravings and had stopped making paintings and woodcuts, and the prints have traditionally been grouped and collected together. The prints have long been seen to stand for the three modes of virtuous living—active (Knight, Death, and the Devil), contemplative (St. Jerome in his Study), and intellectual (Melencolia I)—though no specific narrative is present in any of them.
The master prints are accompanied by other Dürer prints from the Museum’s permanent collection.
HERBERT F. JOHNSON MUSEUM OF ART
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-4001
