Coat of Arms with a Skull
1503
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
Prints
Coat of Arms with a Skull, 1503. Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). Engraving; sheet: 22.2 x 15.9 cm (8 3/4 x 6 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1953.9 In this visual allegory, Dürer creatively entangled themes of love and death. The hairy wild man, a traditional medieval figure of virility, lust, and aggression, plays the role of lover to a maiden dressed in alluring clothing. The skull on the fanciful coat of arms is a bold reminder that vanity and illicit desire carry a mortal price.
- Maker/Artist
- Dürer, Albrecht
- Classification
- Formatted Medium
- engraving
- Medium
- engraving
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 22.2 x 15.9 cm (8 3/4 x 6 1/4 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: lower center, in plate: 1503 ; lower center, in plate: AD[in monogram] ; VERSO, lower right, in pen and brown ink: P. mariette 1667
- Departments
- Prints
- Accession Number
- 1953.9
- Credit Line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Exhibitions
- Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition, Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection, Old Master Prints and Drawings, Albrecht Dürer - 500th Anniversary, Durer, Eight Masters of the Print, Design and Decoration: Ornament Prints, Dürer’s Women: Images of Devotion and Desire
- Rights Statement
- CC0
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