PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

Imperial Privilege for Albrecht Dürer, Nuremberg (1511)

Source: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg

Citation:
Imperial Privilege for Albrecht Dürer, Nuremberg (1511), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

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Record-ID: d_1511b

Permanent link: https://copyrighthistory.org/cam/tools/request/showRecord.php?id=record_d_1511b

Full title:
Colophon to Albrecht Dürer's woodcut cycle 'Life of the Virgin' with Reference to an Imperial Privilege

Full title original language:
EPITOME IN DIVAE PARTHENICES MARI||AE HISTORIAM AB ALBERTO DVRERO || NORICO PER FIGVRAS DIGES|| TAM CVM VERSIBVS ANNE||XIS CHELIDONII ||

Abstract:
Warning, claiming an Imperial privilege - printed on the last page of self-published editions of four woodcut cycles: the new Small Passion (37 folios), and book editions of the Great Passion, Life of the Virgin, and Apocalypse (a reprint edition of 14 folios from 1497-98 that had made Albrecht Dürer famous across Europe). The commentary discusses the development of wood and copper print technologies, and their place in Renaissance aesthetics. It then assesses Dürer's seminal commercial response, centring on his 'AD' monogram, engraving techniques that were hard to copy, privileges and law suits brought against copiers and reprinters. The most notorious example is an alleged dispute under Venetian jurisprudence reported 50 years later by Giorgio Vasari. This involved copies of Dürer prints by Marcantonio Raimondi, the pre-eminent engraver of Renaissance Italy, and a close collaborator of Raphael. For an example of the 74 identified Raimondi copies of Dürer, see i_1504.

Commentary: No commentaries for this record.

Bibliography:
  • Rupprich, Hans (ed.), 'Dürer: Schriftlicher Nachlass' (Berlin: Deutscher Verein für Kunstwissenschaft, 1956)

  • Rott, Herbert Wilhelm, 'Albrecht Dürer, Druckgraphik' (München: Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, 1998)

  • Pon, Lisa, 'Raphael, Dürer, and Marcantonio Raimondi: Copying and the Italian Renaissance Print' (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004)

  • www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/exhibitions/featured/passion/index.html

  • 'Dürer's Passions', Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (2000), URL:


Related documents in this database:
1504: A woodcut by Albrecht Dürer plagiarized by Marcantonio Raimondi
1568: Giorgio Vasari, Life of Marcantonio of Bologna and Other Engravers of Prints

Author: Benedictus Chelidonius (also Benedikt Schwalbe), Albrecht Dürer

Publisher: Albrecht Dürer

Year: 1511

Location: Nuremberg

Language: Latin

Source: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg

Persons referred to:
Dürer, Albrecht
Maximilian I

Places referred to:
Nuremberg

Cases referred to:
N/A

Institutions referred to:
N/A

Legislation:
N/A

Keywords:
Renaissance, the
counterfeit
engravings, protected subject matter
patronage
penalties
printing, history of
privileges, German Imperial
signature

Responsible editor: Friedemann Kawohl, Martin Kretschmer


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