DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52770#0108
Ambrosiana at Milan, published by Peartree in the Diirer Society, X, 19,20 (also by
Meder, Bd. XI. 1215, 1234), is not universally accepted as genuine. It is regarded
for instance, by H. David (Repertoriwn, 1910, xxxiii, 315) as a construction scheme
made after the engraving. Peartree regards the drawing with construction scheme
and light background (D.S.20) as Diirer’s original working drawing for the engraving,
the other side as a tracing (reversed) made to guide him in transferring it to the
plate. The other drawing in the Uffizi he regards as a tracing from the Ambrosiana
front (original). The scheme on which the horse in the engraving is constructed is
given by David (p. 313). Wblfflin reproduces (4th ed., p. 202) a drawing by Leonardo
of a horse in the same pose for the Sforza monument.
The “ S.” has been interpreted by some of those who connect this engraving with a
supposed series of the Four Temperaments as the initial letter of “ Sanguinicus.”
There is no doubt, however, that it forms part of the date and stands for “ Salus,”
the equivalent of “ Anno Salutis,” a form of dating frequently employed by Diirer
about this time in his writings; e.g., Lange u. Fuhse, p. 296, “ Salus 1512 ”; p. 307,
“ Salus 1513 ” (twice).
Diirer named this engraving “ Der Reuter.” It represents, as is now generally
agreed, the Christian Knight passing resolutely through the terrors of this mortal
life and undismayed by the prospect of death. Erasmus gave the greatest vogue to
this notion of the Christian Knight by his “ Enchiridion Militis Christiani,” first
printed in 1502, but the book did not achieve real popularity till translated into
German in 1520. The idea was, however, widely diffused in the popular and
mystical literature of the 15th and 16th centuries, and would not be .regarded as
an original invention by either Erasmus or Diirer, though the latter’s pictorial
realisation far outstrips its rude precursors (see P. Weber, “ Beitrage zu Diirer’s
Weltanschauung,” 1900, pp. 13-44).
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Meder, Bd. XI. 1215, 1234), is not universally accepted as genuine. It is regarded
for instance, by H. David (Repertoriwn, 1910, xxxiii, 315) as a construction scheme
made after the engraving. Peartree regards the drawing with construction scheme
and light background (D.S.20) as Diirer’s original working drawing for the engraving,
the other side as a tracing (reversed) made to guide him in transferring it to the
plate. The other drawing in the Uffizi he regards as a tracing from the Ambrosiana
front (original). The scheme on which the horse in the engraving is constructed is
given by David (p. 313). Wblfflin reproduces (4th ed., p. 202) a drawing by Leonardo
of a horse in the same pose for the Sforza monument.
The “ S.” has been interpreted by some of those who connect this engraving with a
supposed series of the Four Temperaments as the initial letter of “ Sanguinicus.”
There is no doubt, however, that it forms part of the date and stands for “ Salus,”
the equivalent of “ Anno Salutis,” a form of dating frequently employed by Diirer
about this time in his writings; e.g., Lange u. Fuhse, p. 296, “ Salus 1512 ”; p. 307,
“ Salus 1513 ” (twice).
Diirer named this engraving “ Der Reuter.” It represents, as is now generally
agreed, the Christian Knight passing resolutely through the terrors of this mortal
life and undismayed by the prospect of death. Erasmus gave the greatest vogue to
this notion of the Christian Knight by his “ Enchiridion Militis Christiani,” first
printed in 1502, but the book did not achieve real popularity till translated into
German in 1520. The idea was, however, widely diffused in the popular and
mystical literature of the 15th and 16th centuries, and would not be .regarded as
an original invention by either Erasmus or Diirer, though the latter’s pictorial
realisation far outstrips its rude precursors (see P. Weber, “ Beitrage zu Diirer’s
Weltanschauung,” 1900, pp. 13-44).
90