Knight, Death, Devil Durer Artistic Analysis: Knight,

Knight, Death, Devil Durer

Artistic Analysis: Knight, Death, Devil by Durer

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil," Psalm 23 could easily be taken as the primary influence for this piece (The British Museum 2012). "Knight, Death, and the Devil," by Albercht Durer in 1513, features a Christian knight walking through a dark valley in the midst of evil and death. It is a beautiful engraving filled with eerie symbolism and Christian dogma.

This engraving really represents the medieval devotion to Christian themes and expressions within artistic expression. It is filled with Christian symbolism, and gave the artist a sense of moral rectitude through its execution. Here, the research suggests that "the prints are closely interrelated and complementary, corresponding to the three kinds of virtue in medieval scholasticism -- theological, intellectual, and moral" (Metropolitan Museum of Art 2012). There are many within the world of art that believe this piece to be a representation of the Templar Knights, well after they had been eradicated by the Catholic Church and the French crown in 1313. For example, the tablet has some symbolism in that it is dated exactly 200 years after the Knights of Templar were disbanded (Bowman 2008). Many believe that the S. On the tablet actually stands for the Greek ?, or sigma, which could also be correlated to a reverence to the 200-year anniversary of the Templar's disbandment. In this, the piece's patron would have been as these historic knights. This image is even further constructed when examining the images f the devil and death who are said to represent King Phillip Le Bel as death and Pope Clement V as the devil; "an allusion to Le Bel's vanity is his head wreathed in snakes, which invokes the myth of Medusa," (Bowman 2008). Still, these theories are not fully accepted within the art world.

There is a plethora of symbolism used that goes beyond the image of the Templar Knights as well. First, the knight rides a pale horse "as the embodiment of moral virtue, the rider -- modeled on the tradition of heroic equestrian portraits with which Durer was familiar from Italy -- is undistracted and true to his mission" (Metropolitan Museum of Art 2012). The knight's noble and strong horse is a stark contrast to the feeble horse the devil rides, which hangs its head low to the ground. The devil is seen as a hideous dragon-like monster that is always at the knight's feet. Death holds an hourglass to symbolize the shortness of our mortal lives. Yet still, the knight continues forward on his journey not deterred, for heaven is awaiting him for his troubles; "High above this dark forest rises a safe stronghold, apparently the destination of the knight's journey" (The British Museum 2012). The image of Death pictured as being covered in snakes, which have long served as a symbol of evil and maliciousness because of the snake's role in Genesis. Death is also embodied by the image of the skull, who calls ever longingly to the knight. The skull is at the bottom left corner holding a plague plaque, which at the time was an ultimate and unfortunately easily recognizable symbol for death (The British Museum 2012).