A winged female nude figure is elevated high above a village, balancing on a blank sphere.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Unable to open [object Object]: HTTP 0 attempting to load TileSource: https://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/iiif/20029120/info.json
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The woman (Nemesis) stands in the upper center of the print, facing and looking to the right, holding the base of a chalice by the fingers of her right hand, bent elbow. Her face is placid with a slight smile. Her lower left arm holds a bridle. Her hair is wrapped with cloth and a few curls escape from the top, a bit of drapery flows from her left side in the direction of the wings. The background is empty behind her, however a ribbon of clouds under her feet separate her from the village, river, and landscape depicted below.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
M24944
People
Albrecht Dürer, German (Nuremberg 1471 - 1528 Nuremberg)
Title
Nemesis
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Large Fortune
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
c. 1502
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Germany
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/233069

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Engraving on white antique laid paper
Technique
Engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 32.6 × 22.4 cm (12 13/16 × 8 13/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: Monogram A D
  • watermark: Meder watermark 20: high crown
  • collector's mark: verso, black stamp : A / 8-pointed rosette centered by a dot[(Lugt. 53, non-identified)]
  • collector's mark: verso, black stamp: A.F.D [within an oblong borderline] [Lugt 119 (Ambroise Firmin-Didot)]
  • collector's mark: verso, black stamp: LRJ [Lessing J. Rosenwald (Lugt 1760b )]
  • collector's mark: verso, black stamp: L. J. R. / [National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. duplicate stamp]
  • collector's mark: verso, black stamp with graphite number within: bicuspid shape inscribed 67 [Marjorie B. Cohn (not in Lugt)]
  • collector's mark: verso, blue stamp with accession number and an additional inscriptoin written below in graphite: THE WILLIAM HAYES FOGG / ART MUSEUM OF / HARVARD UNIVERSITY / M24944 / my greatest / Dürer [Lugt 936]
  • inscription: verso, various graphite inscriptions: n7 [under;ined] / nsj / Av A[illeg.] / AJ / Eoi82 / EE367 / u. t: / B 77 / illeg. / 1301 / 77 / 126 / 90 / 257
  • collector's mark: verso, black stamp, mostly washed out: NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART surrounding an eagle, all in a circular shape [National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C (Lugt 1932d)]
  • collector's mark: verso, black stamp: L.J.R. / Duplicate [National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., duplicate from the Rosenwald collection]

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

State
Meder iib/iif
Standard Reference Number
Bartsch 77, Meder.72, Strauss 37

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Marjorie B. Cohn in honor of Jakob Rosenberg
Accession Year
2000
Object Number
M24944
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

  • Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 66, repr.
  • Emily J. Peters, ed., The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650, exh. cat., Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Providence, RI, 2009), cat. no. 10, repr. as pl. 8 on p. 58 [not Harvard impression, related bibliography]
  • Susan Dackerman, ed., Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2011), cat. 52 p.232-233, repr.

Exhibition History

  • Re-View: S426A (Large Niche) HAA252k The Age of Durer, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/13/2008 - 02/06/2009
  • Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/06/2011 - 12/10/2011; Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Evanston, 01/17/2012 - 04/08/2012

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project
  • Collection Highlights

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu