Knight, Death, and the Devil

1507–1528 · Virkested

Nuremberg

1511

Publishes the Great Passion and the Life of the Virgin

Dürer published two woodcut series as books, the Great Passion and the Life of the Virgin, with a second edition of the Apocalypse and the 37 woodcuts of the Little Passion. His post-Venetian woodcuts developed chiaroscuro modelling.

1512

Emperor Maximilian I becomes his chief patron

From 1512 Emperor Maximilian I was Dürer's chief patron. For him Dürer and his workshop produced the Triumphal Arch, a giant woodcut 295 × 357 cm printed from 192 blocks and modelled on the triumphal arches of ancient Rome.

3 January 1512

Nuremberg's privilege against forgeries

Nuremberg's city council granted Dürer a privilege for the sale of his prints, with penalties for anyone who forged them.

1514

Death of his mother

In the year of Melencolia I and St Jerome in His Study, the artist's mother, Barbara Holper, died.

1515

A life pension from the emperor

The perpetually cash-strapped Maximilian could not pay on time and offered to exempt the artist from city taxes, which the Nuremberg Council opposed. At Dürer's request the emperor granted him a life pension of 100 guilders a year from the sums Nuremberg paid into the imperial treasury.