The Story
Nemesis, c. 1501–02. Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). Engraving; sheet: 33.3 x 23 cm (13 1/8 x 9 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Ralph King, 1943.178
Created in 1501 during the Renaissance period, this work belongs firmly within the portrait tradition. Albrecht Dürer worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in engraving, measuring Sheet: 33.3 x 23 cm (13 1/8 x 9 1/16 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Albrecht Dürer builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
