Symbolism of Albrecht Durer’s “Master Engravings”
Albrecht Durer completed the “Master Engravings” in the years 1513 and 1514. With these three engravings (Knight, Death, and Devil, St. Jerome in His Study, and Melencolia I) he reached the high point of his artistic expression and concentration. each print represents a different philosophical perspective on the “worlds” respectively of action, spirit, and intellect. Although Durer himself evidently did not think of the three as a set, He sometimes sold or gave St. Jerome and Melencolia I as a pair.In the engraving, Knight, Death, and Devil, it appears that the hero (the Knight) is gaining a moral victory over death. (Fig. 1) The Knight has often been interpreted as Erasmus’s sturdy Christian soldier who scoffs at death and the devil as he goes about God’s work in his journey through life. The conception of the ‘Christian soldier’ embodies and ideal of manly virtue which the traditional instincts of the Germanic race, German mysticism and Northern versions of Renaissance ideals all contributed to form. The Horse is represented in full profile as to show off it’s perfect proportions; it is forcefully modeled so as to give its perfect anatomy and it moves with regulate
And we also know something about his spiritual condition at the time when he made this engraving – in May 1514, after a painful illness, his mother died. Jerome is working at the far end of the room, which in itself gives the impression of remoteness and peace. In their interpretation of the ‘Melancolia’ engraving, the two famous biographers of Durer, Thausing (1876) and Springer (1892), both deviate from a firm basis of historical formulation and interpretation imbued with colorless modern spirituality. His little desk is placed on a large table which otherwise holds nothing but an inkpot and a crucifix. The shortness of the distance, combined with the lowness of the horizon strengthens the feeling of intimacy. The cell, which in previous versions was always more or less cave-like, cold and drear, has now become a warm, comfortable, Late Gothic study; the lion is now really a household pet, blinking peacefully, with a dog asleep at his side. ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**BibliographyPanofsky, Edwin. The fact that a beautiful setter is running by the side of the horse completes the picture of the Christian man as known to the Late Middle Ages – the man who armed with faith and accompanied by religious zeal, symbolized by the faithful hound goes on his way along the narrow path of earthly life menaced by Death and the Devil. Jerome and the Melencolia I express two aritithetical ideals. However, the vanishing point prevents the small room from looking cramped and box-like because the north wall is not visible; it gives greater distinction to the play of light on the embrasures of the windows; and it suggests! the experience of casually entering a private room rather than of facing an artificially arranged stage. d step of the riding school so as to give demonstration of perfect rhythm. Springer, too, is satisfied with the explanation that intellectual striving consumes the peace of the soul and results in deep depression. ’ Durer has also told us quite clearly what he understood by melancholy.
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