Pitts Theology Library
Archives and Manuscripts Department

Albrecht Dürer, Small Passion
Woodcut Collection, ca. 1509-1511

Biographical Note

Albrecht Dürer was a well-known German Renaissance artist and art theorist. He is mostly remembered for his printed art although he also produced skilled paintings and drawings. Dürer was born at Nuremberg on May 21, 1471 during the early period of the moveable type printing press. His father was a goldsmith and at a young age Albrecht learned the craft of engraving designs into objects, which prepared him for a career in print artistry. He first apprenticed with the important Nuremberg painter Michael Wolgemut (1486-89), then traveled outside Nuremberg to learn in different environements: he was at Colmar in 1491, at Basel in 1492-93, and at Strassburg in 1493-94. Dürer returned to Nuremberg in 1494. He was a popular artist in his day and interacted with other major Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Giovanni Bellini.

Dürer made his first woodcut at age 21 in 1492 and published his famous Apocalypse in 1498. He continued to create numerous depictions of biblical scenes and in 1511 published his Large Passion along with the Life of the Virgin, the second edition of the Apocalypse, and the Small Passion. Dürer worked on the Small Passion between 1508 and 1511. It contained thirty-six woodcuts plus an additional the title page image ("Man of Sorrows"). The Small Passion was printed with four woodcuts to a sheet, on eleven half-folio sheets (Landau and Parshall, 352). The Small Passion was published as a book and designed to tell a narrative beginning with the fall in the garden and ending with the judgment of Christ. According to Dürer's diary, he sold sixteen sets of the Small Passion to a dealer named Sebald Fischer for six stuiver each; Dürer also records that six stuiver is the same price that he paid for shoes, thus they were a relatively affordable set in his day (Landau and Parshall, 352-53). Dürer's Small Passion was a very popular work and continued to be printed into the seventeenth century from the original wood blocks. Thirty-four of these original blocks are extant and reside in the British Museum.

Dürer died at Nuremberg on April 6, 1528.

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains five woodcuts from Dürer's Small Passion. The Small Passion originally contained thirty-six woodcuts, plus a title page. The five woodcuts in this collection feature events in the life of Christ from the Gospels: the washing of Peter's feet (John 13:1-16), the crowning of thorns (Matthew 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2), the resurrection (Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-23), the meeting of the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), and the doubting Thomas episode (John 20:24-29). In the following list of prints, the German title is provided, followed by an English title, the reference numbers in Meder, Hollstein, Bartsch, and Strauss, as well as the size and date.

Bibliography

• Bartsch, Adam. Le Peintre-Graveur. Volume 7. Vienna: J. V. Degen, 1808.
• Hollstein, F. W. H. German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts ca. 1400-1700, Volume 7: Albrecht and Hans Dürer. Edited by K. G. Boon and R. W. Scheller. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1962.
• Landau, David and Peter Marshall. The Renaissance Print: 1470-1550. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994.
• Meder, Joseph. Dürer-Katalog: Ein Handbuch über Albrecht Dürers Stiche, Radierungen, Holzschnitte, Deren Zustände, Ausgaben und Wasserzeichen New York: Da Capo Press, 1971.
• Strauss, Walter L. Albrecht Dürer Woodcuts and Wood Blocks. New York: Abaris Books, 1980.

Container Listing

Last Modified: December 8, 2015 (bcw)