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Your galleryKnight, Death, and the Devil
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Find the hourglass in Death’s hand, the skull at lower left and the tablet dated 1513, then the lizard running the other way.
A knight in full armor rides calmly through a rocky gorge while Death, a decaying figure on a worn-out horse, holds up an hourglass and a horned devil follows. The Art Institute reads the engraving as a reminder that no armor protects anyone from death, though the knight shows no fear. With Melencolia I and Saint Jerome in His Study, both in this room, it forms the trio known as Dürer’s master engravings.
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper · Image/plate: 24.5 × 19 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Northern Renaissance
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Knight, Death, and the Devil
- Artist
- Albrecht Dürer German, 1471-1528
- Date
- 1513
- Medium
- Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
- Dimensions
- Image/plate: 24.5 × 19 cm (9 11/16 × 7 1/2 in.); Sheet: 25.3 × 19.7 cm (10 × 7 13/16 in.)
- Credit line
- Robert Alexander Waller Memorial Fund
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Artist’s life 1471–1528
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.