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Imperial Privilege for Albrecht Dürer, Nuremberg (1511)

Source:
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg

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

Record Images


Record-ID:
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.

Bibliography
"Dürer's Passions", Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (2000), URL:
www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/exhibitions/featured/passion/index.html
Pon, Lisa, "Raphael, Dürer, and Marcantonio Raimondi: Copying and the Italian Renaissance Print" (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004)
Rott, Herbert Wilhelm, "Albrecht Dürer, Druckgraphik" (München: Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, 1998)
Rupprich, Hans (ed.), "Dürer: Schriftlicher Nachlass" (Berlin: Deutscher Verein für Kunstwissenschaft, 1956)

Related documents in this database

Author
Benedictus Chelidonius (also Benedikt Schwalbe), Albrecht Dürer

Publisher
Albrecht Dürer

Location
Nuremberg

Year
1511

Language
Latin

Source
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg

Physical description
N/A

Illustrations tables
N/A

Persons referred to
Dürer, Albrecht (1471-1528)
Maximilian I (1459-1519)

Persons referred to in commentary
Dürer, Albrecht (1471-1528)
Vasari, Giorgio (1511-1574)
Raimondi, Marcantonio (c.1480-c.1534)
Raphael (1483-1529)

Places referred to
Nuremberg

Places referred to in commentary
Italy
Venice

Legislation referred to
N/A

Legislation referred to in commentary
N/A

Cases referred to
N/A

Cases referred to in commentary
N/A

Institutions referred to
N/A

Institutions referred to in commentary
N/A

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

Responsible editor
Friedemann Kawohl, Martin Kretschmer




Copyright status

Original document is out of copyright. In so far as these scans are protected by copyright, they are made available on the same terms as translations and commentaries (see home page).




Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, 10 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DZ, UK