The Small Courier
- Date
- c.1496
- Material
- Engraving
- Classification
- Prints
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 4 1/8 x 3 in. (10.5 x 7.6 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of J. Lionberger Davis
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 71:1951
NOTES
This small but cleanly and confidently engraved horse and rider is one of six similarly-formatted profane subjects engraved by Dürer in 1496–97. Writers disagree about whether this figure is a “courier” or perhaps a military figure, but they unfailingly describe his gesture as energetic. The young artist’s focus on subjects from life as opposed to history or literature would seem to suggest a pointed approach to the market, although he only rarely afterwards depicted such secular subjects.
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