Theuerdank Received by Ehrenreich, from Teuerdank, plate 22 from Woodcuts from Books of the XVI Century

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Late in life, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I became nostalgic for his beloved first wife, Mary of Burgundy, and commissioned an illustrated poetic allegory about his youthful feats to deserve her love. This woodcut by Leonhard Beck, one of the Emperor’s many Augsburg-based printmakers, shows Maximilian’s alter ego, Theuerdank (“the knight of adventurous thoughts”) meeting his beloved, Ehrenreich (whose name means “full of honor”). This impression on vellum comes from a limited luxury edition printed for Maximilian’s family or the near nobility. The irregularities apparent on this translucent sheet, such as the stitched holes from the original animal hide, emphasize vellum’s differences from paper.

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