Melencolia I

engraving by Dürer

Also known as: “Melancolia I”

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July 16, 2026

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Melencolia I is a 1514 engraving by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. It is one of his three master engravings, created between 1513 and 1514, alongside Knight, Death and Devil and St. Jerome in His Study. These works are noted for their complex and often contradictory iconography, with scholars generally agreeing that they were intended to be interpreted together. Dürer aimed to elevate his artistic intensity to its highest level in these engravings, achieving a fusion of finished form, rich conception, and mood that exemplifies classical perfection.1

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Albrecht Dürer
Development after the second Italian trip
Jerome in His Study, and Melencolia I—all of approximately the same size, about 24.5 by 19.1 cm (9.5 by 7.5 inches). The extensive, complex, and often contradictory literature concerning these three engravings deals largely with their enigmatic, allusive, iconographic details. Although repeatedly contested, it probably must be accepted that the…
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Jerome in His Study, and Melencolia I—all of approximately the same size, about 24.5 by 19.1 cm (9.5 by 7.5 inches). The extensive, complex, and often contradictory literature concerning these three engravings deals largely with their enigmatic, allusive, iconographic details. Although repeatedly contested, it probably must be accepted that the…
Read More

Germany
Cultural life
…with his evocative engraving “Melancolia I,” in which a brooding figure with closed wings sits idly amid a chaos of scientific instruments and meditates on the futility of human endeavor. In architecture the hierarchical elaboration of the late Gothic style maintained its ascendancy and even made a notable conquest…
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…with his evocative engraving “Melancolia I,” in which a brooding figure with closed wings sits idly amid a chaos of scientific instruments and meditates on the futility of human endeavor. In architecture the hierarchical elaboration of the late Gothic style maintained its ascendancy and even made a notable conquest…
Read More