Saint Eustace Engraving by Albrecht Durer

Saint Eustace by Albrecht Durer, c. 1501, is an elaborate copper plate engraving that tells the story of the ancient saint and martyr. Originally a Roman general, Eustace was hunting a stag one day when he had the vision of a crucifix between the deer’s antlers, thereafter converting to Christianity. Durer constructs the intricate details of figure, horse, dogs and landscape with painstakingly engraved lines in a monumental example of printmaking. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was a German painter of the Northern Renaissance and also an engraver, printmaker, mathematician and theorist whose woodcut prints and theoretical treatises secured his reputation as one of the greatest artists of Europe. His many paintings, portraits, altarpieces, watercolors, and engravings were the first in the Northern Renaissance to use classical motifs from antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. The art of landscape painting began with his watercolors. Durer’s unparalleled skill in drawing and engraving as well as mastery of perspective allowed him rapid execution of a range of motifs which elicit universal admiration to this day.