Dimensions 6 1/2 x 4 5/8 in. (16.51 x 11.75 cm) (image)
Albrecht Durer created this engraving, *The Great Horse*, around 1505 during a period of significant social and political change. Durer lived through the beginning of the Reformation which would become a schism in the Catholic church. In this work, a robust horse is paired with an armored rider. This pairing evokes themes of power, military strength, and the social status associated with knighthood during the Renaissance. The horse is idealized, which can be seen as a reflection of the values and ideals upheld by the upper class. Looking closely, one could consider how the horse, as a symbol of status and power, also carried the weight of expectation and responsibility. What do you think it would be like to carry the burden of societal expectations? Durer's piece prompts us to think about the complex relationship between identity, representation, and societal power structures of the time.
Comments
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.
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