Cleveland Museum of Art
The Great Triumphal Car of Emperor Maximilian
Albrecht DürerLinkedCulture matchlcp-91cf98b472c5
- Date
- 1523
- Medium
- woodcut
- Culture
- Germany
- Department
- Prints
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 124273
From LinkedCulture
This is no ordinary royal portrait. Albrecht Dürer's 1523 woodcut shows Emperor Maximilian I enthroned on a fantastical chariot, surrounded by allegorical figures with their virtues spelled out in dense Latin labels across every surface. The wheels beneath him represent Magnificence, Honor, Dignity, and Glory, while Reason itself holds the reins. Maximilian died before the work was finished, so Dürer published it at his own expense, turning an incomplete imperial commission into one of the most ambitious prints of the Renaissance.
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From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
Dürer conceived this fantastical chariot as part of a larger commission to depict Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (reigned 1486–1519) in a triumphal procession. The ruler sits enthroned in the lavish car, as Victory holds a laurel wreath above his imperial crown. Her feathered wings list Maximilian’s military campaigns. Nearly every component of the allegorical pageant—from the entourage of female attendants to the laurel garlands—has a Latin label describing honorable qualities of an ideal prince. The car rolls on wheels of Magnificence, Honor, Dignity, and Glory. Its driver is Reason, who guides a team of 12 horses with reins of Nobility and Power. Virtues of Justice, Strength, Wisdom, and Temperance, stand on pedestals arranged around the emperor. Maximilian died in 1519, before the ambitious commission could be completed. Dürer published The Great Triumphal Car at his own expense with text composed by his friend Willibald Pirckheimer (1470–1530).
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Dudley P. Allen Fund
- Provenance
- with Richard H. Zinser, New York | 1945: Purchased by the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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