Equestrian Portrait of the Emperor Maximilian
Hans Burgkmair (German, 1473–1531)
1508
- Medium
- woodcut, in black and white on paper washed blue
- Classification
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 32.3 x 22.7 cm (12 11/16 x 8 15/16 in.)
- Culture
- Germany
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Prints
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Presented in full profile, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (reigned 1486–1519) and his mount emulate a classical equestrian portrait statue. The Latin abbreviations inscribed at the top of the page describe him as “August Emperor Caesar Maximilian,” a title conceptually equating him with the leaders of the ancient Roman Empire. The two-headed eagle on the banner is the emblem of his dynastic family, the Hapsburgs. This exceptionally rare chiaroscuro woodcut— printed with black and white inks on paper prepared with tinted wash—represents one of the earliest experiments with this technique. Of the two surviving impressions printed on hand-colored paper, this is the only one that is blue.
