Albrecht DürerGerman, 1471–1528Knight, Death, and the Devil
Knight, Death and Devil
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Knight, Death, and the Devil” now? Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Washington, D.C., United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Knight, Death and the Devil (German: Ritter, Tod und Teufel) is a large 1513 engraving by the German artist Albrecht Dürer, one of the three Meisterstiche (master prints) completed during a period when he almost ceased to work in paint or woodcuts to focus on engravings. The image is infused with complex iconography and symbolism, the precise meaning of which has been argued over for centuries.
Read on
A stolid armoured knight on a proud horse, accompanied by his faithful dog, rides through a wild narrow gorge flanked by a goat-headed devil and the figure of death riding a pale horse. Death's rotting corpse holds an hourglass, a reminder of the shortness of life. The rider moves through the scene looking away from the creatures lurking around him, and appears almost contemptuous of the threats, and is thus often seen as symbol of courage; the knight's armour, the horse which towers in size over the beasts, and the oak leaves are symbolic of the resilience of faith, while the knight's plight may represent Christians' earthly journey towards the Kingdom of Heaven symbolized by the city on the hill.
It was widely copied and had a large influence on later German writers. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche referenced the work in his work on dramatic theory The Birth of Tragedy (1872) to exemplify pessimism. Later in the 20th century the engraving was used by the Nazis, identifying their cause with that of the knight on horseback.
In the museum's words
In this tour de force engraving, considered one of his three greatest “masterworks,” Albrecht Dürer portrayed a mounted soldier who resolutely forges through a dark gorge, ignoring a horned devil in his path. Confronted by Death itself, crowned with snakes and holding an hourglass indicating mortality, the soldier and his faithful dog demonstrate the strength of righteousness required to stay upon the right path. The skull underfoot suggests that others have not been
so resolute. Indeed, this road of life is full of obstacles, with the city on the hill accessible, it seems, only by way of treacherous peaks.
National Gallery of Art
Details
- Accession number
- 1943.3.3519
What it shows
In the catalog
Display history
Not on view at present
National Gallery of Art · Sep 29, 2026 — now · Verified
Was not on view
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Sep 29, 2026 — Sep 29, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
National Gallery of Art · Sep 29, 2026 — Sep 29, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Sep 28, 2026 — Sep 29, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
National Gallery of Art · Sep 28, 2026 — Sep 28, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Sep 27, 2026 — Sep 28, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
National Gallery of Art · Sep 27, 2026 — Sep 27, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
Rijksmuseum · Sep 26, 2026 — Sep 27, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
National Gallery of Art · Sep 26, 2026 — Sep 26, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Sep 25, 2026 — Sep 26, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
Rijksmuseum · Aug 30, 2026 — Sep 25, 2026 · Verified
Was not on view
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Aug 19, 2026 — Aug 30, 2026 · Verified
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: National Gallery of Art — Museum open access
In the life of Albrecht Dürer
The whole life1507–1528 · Workplace
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.
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