Triumph of the Emperor Maximilian I - 001

Triumph of the Emperor Maximilian I - 007

The ''Triumphal Procession'' (in German, ''Triumphzug'') or ''Triumphs of Maximilian'' is a monumental 16th-century series of

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

prints In molecular biology, the PRINTS database is a collection of so-called "fingerprints": it provides both a detailed annotation resource for protein families, and a diagnostic tool for newly determined sequences. A fingerprint is a group of conserve ...

by several artists, commissioned by the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Maximilian I. The composite image was

printed Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

from over 130 separate wood blocks; a total of 139 are known. Approximately long, it is one of the largest prints ever produced. It was designed to be pasted to the walls in city halls or the palaces of princes to create a decorative frieze, an expression of the Emperor's power and magnificence: a pictorial form of the contemporaneous royal entry, which like many Renaissance entries looked back to the

Roman triumph The Roman triumph (') was a civil religion, civil ceremony and Religion in ancient Rome, religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the success of a military commander who had led Roman forces to victory in the servi ...

. Maximilian's papers show that he intended the procession to "grace the walls of council chambers and great halls of the empire, proclaiming for posterity the noble aims of their erstwhile ruler". It was one of several works of propaganda in literary and print form commissioned by Maximilian, who was always drastically short of money, and lacked the funds to actually stage such a ceremony, unlike his Habsburg descendants. It could also be bound as a book, and it is copies treated this way which have survived, as well as those from later reprints. The work is one of three huge prints created for Maximilian. The other two projects were largely designed by

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

: a ''

Triumphal Arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...

'' (1512-5, 192 woodcut panels, high and wide), and a ''

Large Triumphal Carriage The ''Large Triumphal Carriage'' or ''Great Triumphal Car'' (in German, ''Triumphwagen'') is a large 16th-century woodcut print by Albrecht Dürer, commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. The work was originally intended to be the ...

'' (1522, 8 woodcut panels, high long) which was originally intended to form part of the ''Triumphal Procession'' but was published separately by Dürer in 1522. These monumental projects reflect Maximilian's position as Holy Roman Emperor, and link him to the

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...

es and

triumphs ''Triumphs'' (Italian language, Italian: ''I Trionfi'') is a 14th-century Italian series of poems, written by Petrarch in the Tuscan language. The poem evokes the Roman triumph, Roman ceremony of triumph, where victorious generals and their armies ...

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...

. Only the ''Triumphal Arch'' was completed before Maximilian's death in 1519, and distributed as Imperial

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

as he intended. Other projects were the verse and print books ''

Theuerdank ''Theuerdank'' (''Teuerdank, Tewerdanck, Teuerdannckh'') is a poetic work composed by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, (1486-1519) in German which tells the fictionalised and romanticised story of his journe ...

'', an allegorical chivalrous romance account of Maximilian's courtship of

Mary of Burgundy Mary (french: Marie; nl, Maria; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled a collection of states that included the duchies of Limburg, Brabant, Luxembourg, the counties of ...

, and ''

Der Weisskunig ''Der Weisskunig'' or ''The White King'' is a chivalric novel and thinly disguised biography of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, (1486–1519) written in German by Maximilian and his secretary between 1505 and 1516. Although not explicitly ...

''. The programme for the ''Triumphal Procession'' was worked out by Maximilian and

Johannes Stabius Johannes Stabius (Johann Stab) (1450–1522) was an Austrian cartographer and astronomer of Vienna who developed, around 1500, the heart-shape (cordiform) projection map later developed further by Johannes Werner. It is called the '' Werner map p ...

in 1512, and dictated to Maximilian's secretary Marx Treitsaurwein.

Hans Burgkmair Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473–1531) was a German Painting, painter and woodcut printmaker. Background Hans Burgkmair was born in Augsburg, the son of painter Thomas Burgkmair. His own son, Hans the Younger, later became a painter as well. From ...

designed much of the ''Triumphal Procession'', starting in about 1512 and contributing designs for 67 woodblocks. Other contributions were made by

Albrecht Altdorfer Albrecht Altdorfer (12 February 1538) was a German painter, engraver and architect of the Renaissance working in Regensburg, Bavaria. Along with Lucas Cranach the Elder and Wolf Huber he is regarded to be the main representative of the Danube Sc ...

(38 blocks),

Hans Springinklee Hans Springinklee (c.1490/c.1495 – c.1540) was a German artist from Nuremberg, best known for his woodcuts.British Museum bio, see refs below. He was a pupil of Albrecht Dürer. Life Little written evidence remains of Springinklee's life ...

(20),

Leonhard Beck Leonhard Beck (c. 1480 – 1542) was a painter and designer of woodcuts in Augsburg, Germany. He was the son of Georg Beck, who was active as a miniaturist in Augsburg c. 1490-1512/15. He worked with his father on two Psalters for the Augsburg mo ...

(7), Hans Schäufelein (2), Wolf Huber (2), and

(2). The designs were cut from 1516 to 1519 by a large team of block-cutters led by

Jost de Negker Jost de Negker (c. 1485–1544) was a cutter of woodcuts and also a printer and publisher of prints during the early 16th century, mostly in Augsburg, Germany. He was a leading "formschneider" or blockcutter of his day, but always to the design ...

, including

Hieronymus Andreae Hieronymus Andreae, or Andreä, or Hieronymus Formschneider, (died 7 May 1556) was a German woodblock cutter ("formschneider"), printer, publisher and typographer closely associated with Albrecht Dürer. Andreae's best known achievements includ ...

Cornelis Liefrinck Cornelis Liefrinck (1581–c. 1662) was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter. Biography According to Houbraken he was born and lived in Leiden and was still painting in 1640, along with his contemporaries Arnout Elsevier, Jan van Goyen, an ...

and Willem Liefrinck. The work was not completed by Maximilian's death in 1519 and the project stalled with 139 blocks completed; a large number of portraits of courtiers and German princes were among the casualties, and were never made. Dürer ceased to receive the annual pension of 100 florins paid under Maximilian, and he published his ''Large Triumphal Carriage'' separately in 1522 (in the description below it is restored in its intended place as block 122 a-g); a smaller equivalent was substituted. The subjects on the individual woodblocks forming the procession include: a naked herald riding a

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

at the start of the work (block 1), then a large blank frame pulled by two horses (intended to be carved with the title), followed by a large collection of musicians, many in carts drawn by exotic animals (3-4, 17-26, 77-78 etc.), drummers, falconers and huntsmen accompanied by their prey (5-14), two carts containing jesters and fools (27-30), fencers,

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

fighters and jousters (33-56), 29 groups of standard bearers on horseback carrying the flags of Maximilian's many titles and territories (57-88), a cart for Maximilian's wedding (89-90), carriages with depictions of Maximilian's military victories (91-102), a cart for the wedding of Maximilian's son

Philip I of Castile Philip the Handsome, es, Felipe, french: Philippe, nl, Filips (22 July 1478 – 25 September 1506), also called the Fair, was ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands and titular ruler, titular Duke of Burgundy from 1482 to 1506, as well as the fir ...

Joanna of Castile Joanna (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad ( es, link=no, Juana la Loca), was the nominal Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was married by arrangement to Phi ...

(105), carriages with Maximilians's ancestors (106-110), soldiers and prisoners of war, and finally Dürer's 8-block triumphal carriage containing Maximilian himself drawn by twelve horses (122 a-g). After the carriage come representatives from foreign peoples, including exotic people from

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

with an elephant (129), American Indians (130), soldiers, and then the baggage-train (132-137), shown descending from a hilly alpine landscape. The last block (137) shows a wagon laden with cooking-pots and a man carrying rods with shoes hanging from them. The procession is an important documentary source for the details of the musical instruments and the weapons and armour of the period. A first edition of 137 blocks running to 200 copies was published in 1526, on the order of Maximilian's grandson Archduke Ferdinand. A second edition of 135 blocks was printed in 1777, with further editions published by

Adam Bartsch Johann Adam Bernhard Ritter von Bartsch (17 August 1757 – 21 August 1821) was an Austrian scholar and artist. His catalogue of old master prints is the foundation of print history, and he was himself a printmaker practicing engraving and et ...

and then in 1883-4 by Franz Schestag. The

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

has a composite set of 137 woodcuts drawn from three different editions, 97 from the 1526 edition, 36 from 1777, and 4 from 1796, with the text that accompanied the 1796 edition. The manuscript text has survived in Vienna, and 135 of the 139 woodblocks are in the

Albertina The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...

in Vienna. The woodcut series was sometimes hand-coloured, like other prints, but it is not to be confused with a different and much shorter

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

''Triumphs of Maximilian'' by

of 1513-1515 (now Albertina), with many similar scenes, but also many in which soldiers on foot carry banners containing representations of particular campaigns of the Emperor. File:Brief History of Wood-engraving Burgkmair Horsemen.png, Standard-bearers File:Triumphzug Kaiser Maximilians 1.jpg File:Hans burgkmair musikantenda.jpg, Musicians, by

File:Brief History of Wood-engraving Burgkmair Savages.png, People of

References

{{commons category, Triumphal Procession of Maximilian I
''The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer''
edited by W. Kurth, p. 37
''Albert Dürer: His Life and Work, Volume 2''
Moriz Thausing, p. 136-149
''The Essential Dürer By Albrecht Dürer''
Larry Silver, Jeffrey Chipps Smith, p. 135-144
''A Treatise on Wood Engraving, Historical and Practical''
William Andrew Chatto, p. 348-367
''Triumph of the Emperor Maximilian I''
Victoria & Albert Museum 16th-century prints Woodcuts Renaissance art Horses in art Elephants in art Musical instruments in art Collections of the Albertina, Vienna Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor