The Small Horse
Engraving c.1505
Size of original 165 x 108 mm, 6 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches
Horses in German prints of this period often represent the passions, sometimes restrained, and sometimes, as in our Baldung reproductions, not. In this image they seem under control, although there is a hint of fire in the front end of the animal.
The horse seems hemmed in by the huge but ruinous vaulted structure around it. Some writers have claimed that the flaming bowl above represents the passions illuminated and controlled by the light of reason.
The proportions of the horse are based on a strictly geometrical scheme of nine squares, and influenced in this and the face by Leonardo da Vinci. Dürer probably saw drawings by Leonardo when the owner of a stables in Milan where we know Leonardo made many studies of horses visited Nuremburg. In 1502 he stayed for several weeks in the house of Dürer’s great friend Willibald Pirckheimer. Dürer probably have made copies, as he was very keen to get information on Italian proportional systems at this period.
Dürer planned to write a book on the proportions of the horse to match his book on the human figure, but his notes were lost and he abandoned the idea.
He did another engraving in the same year (the Large Horse) showing a much more relaxed and naturalistically drawn horse from the rear, again held by a groom in an exotic military costume.
Click image to enlarge
Size of reproduction:
Size of reproduction 165 x 108 mm, 6 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches
Print price:
£25 €36 $40
£ and € print prices include UK VAT at 17.5%. No UK VAT on Books.
© The Trustees of the British Museum 2006 PD E-4-123 Bartsch 96
