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Albrecht Dürer, designer

Nemesis, ca. 1501- 1502

Description

Maker

Title

Nemesis

Year

ca. 1501- 1502

Medium

Engraving on laid paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Supports

Dimensions

Plate: 33.2 x 23 cm (13 1/16 x 9 1/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Lettered with the artist's monogram, LR: "AD"

Watermark: High crown (Meder watermark no. 20)

Identification

State

ii/ii

Type

Credit

Museum Membership Fund

Object Number

65.032

Projects & Publications

Publications

Dürer-Katalog

Ein Handbuch über Albrecht Dürers Stiche, Radierungen, Holzschnitte

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Visions and Revisions

February 15 - August 4, 2019

This engraving depicts the goddess of retribution, a bridle in one hand for restraining the wicked and a goblet in the other for rewarding the just. She exercises her unpredictable power over the world, symbolized by the sphere on which she balances and the landscape under the cloud pulled back like a veil. Dürer’s exquisite use of detail identifies the town as Chiusa, in northern Italy.

The stark division between the allegorical content at the top and the dense description of the landscape in the lower part is unusual, yet the print is no less coherent for it. Dürer brought the precise craftsmanship of the goldsmith to the task of pictorial composition, with Nemesis influencing generations of printmakers that followed him.

The Brilliant Line

September 18, 2009 - January 3, 2010

This engraving rpresents a complex linear approach to texture, landscape, and space. Albrecht Dürer relies on an extremely refined and complicated variety of marks that juxtaposes the very near and the very far and creates nuanced, atmospheric transitions. Large engravings with this level of detail took Dürer months to complete and were intended to appeal to the growing number of collectors interested in acquiring engravings as works of art.

Based on a Latin poem written by the Italian humanist Angelo Poliziano (printed in Venice in 1498), Nemesis depicts the goddess of retribution; her goblet and bridle represent reward and castigation. This iconography is combined with that of Fortune, as indicated by the figure’s wings and her positioning on a globe.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Nemesis with the accession number of 65.032. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.