The Great Horse 1505

print, engraving

pencil drawn

light pencil work

germany

print

pencil sketch

charcoal drawing

charcoal art

pencil drawing

pen-ink sketch

pencil work

engraving

pencil art

fantasy sketch

Albrecht Dürer’s *The Great Horse* is a 1505 engraving that showcases the artist’s mastery of realistic detail. Depicting a powerful, muscular horse, the work exemplifies Dürer’s interest in anatomy and his ability to capture the animal's form with precise lines and intricate hatching. The composition's focus on the horse, coupled with its dramatic pose and the knight's fallen armor, conveys a sense of strength and power. It is an early example of Dürer's innovative approach to animal portraiture and continues to be celebrated for its meticulous rendering and impressive realism.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

⋮

Albrecht Dürer was so revered by his students that one of them requested and received a lock of the artist's hair after his death. In his teaching, Dürer preached the importance of proper proportion, both human and equine, which he sought to perfect during his entire career. More remarkable than the musculature and massive bulk of the animal depicted in The Great Horse, however, is the dramatic foreshortening of its body. To underscore the point, Dürer biographer Erwin Panofsky asks us to imagine the horse's size if viewed from the side.