Coat of Arms of Michael Behaim, ca. 1520
Woodcut
11 5/8 x 8 1/8 inches (295 x 206 mm)
Purchased by the Morgan Library, 1930; 2006.81
Original woodblock for Coat of Arms of Michael Behaim
Wood
11 1/8 x 7 3/4 inches (282 x 197 mm) Purchased by J. P. Morgan, Jr., 1926; AZ127
It was through his printmaking that Dürer's skill as a draftsman gained international recognition. He worked in engraving, etching, and the form used here, woodcut. Heraldic designs, in this case the coat of arms of the Behaim family, were a major type of commission. This print, perhaps a bookplate, was made for Michael Behaim, a Nuremberg patrician whose name appears on a legal document as witness to Dürer's purchase of a garden in 1512. The Morgan is fortunate also to have in its collection the woodblock used to make this print. A comparison of the block and the print illustrates the reversal that occurred in the printing process.
Transcription and translation of letter from Albrecht Dürer to Michael Behaim
+zoom letterLibr her michell beheim Ich shick ewch dis waben widr pit latz beleiben es wurt ewchs so keiner verpessern dan Ich habs mit fleis kunstlich gemacht dorudys sehen vud ferstend dy werden ewch woll berscheid sagn soll man dy lewble awff dem helm vber sich werffen so verdecken su dy pinden.
E...vndertan
Albrecht Dürer
Dear Master Michael Beheim, I send you back the coat of arms again. Please let it stand as it is. No one could improve it for you because it was made artistically and with care. Those who see it and understand such matters will tell you so. If the leafwork on the helmet were curled backward, it would hide the braid.
Your humble servant
Albrecht Dürer