Siege of a Fortress

Currently not on view

Siege of a Fortress

1527

Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)

Like many Renaissance artists, Albrecht Dürer was called upon to produce designs for fortifications to respond to technological advances in artillery. This woodcut demonstrates the operation of a siege according to a treatise that Dürer wrote on the subject in the same year: the town with a fortress surrounded by a broad moat and fortified walls appears prepared to survive the attack to which the exposed villages burning on the outskirts have already succumbed.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Siege of a Fortress

Date:

1527

Artist:

Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)

Medium:

Woodcut printed from two blocks on two conjoined sheets

Dimensions:

Image and sheet: 8 13/16 x 28 7/16 inches (22.4 x 72.2 cm)

Classification:

Prints

Credit Line:

Gift of an anonymous donor, 2003

Accession Number:

2003-100-1

Geography:

Made in Germany, Europe

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Currently not on view