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Abby Murray

Formal Analysis

October 4, 2007

Albrecht Dürer, “Knight, Death, and the Devil”, 1513

In the engraving “Knight, Death and the Devil” Dürer depicts the opposition between morality and evil through contrasting forms. The subject is a knight astride a horse, riding past figures of Death and the Devil. The viewer identifies with the stoic Knight making his way past such threatening figures, and Dürer reinforces the contrast between the figures through his composition, positioning, naturalism, and use of line.

The Knight astride his noble steed occupies the immediate foreground and most of the area of the engraving. Although Death and the Devil are important components of the subject matter, they receive less compositional attention than the Knight and his horse. Death and the Devil are secondary figures Dürer uses to create meaning for the work. Dürer is trying to depict the opposition between morality, represented by the Knight and the horse, and evil, represented by Death and the Devil. The middle ground is non-existent: jagged rocky outcrops create a dark wall behind the figures, pushing them farther into the foreground and creating depth behind them as well.

Dürer chooses to arrange the figures in stable positions. The Knight sits upright upon his steed, in profile to the viewer. His body does not twist or tilt to convey motion, which lends a sense of stoicism and integrity to his form. Dürer purposely chooses to subdue the motion of the figures to give them a sense of calm in the face of evil. The horse has two legs firmly grounded, and the other two raised smartly, suggesting that he is walking, not trotting or cantering or moving at speed. To emphasize the slow, controlled movement of the horse, Dürer adds a dog leaping forward at the horse’s feet. Both the dog’s from legs are off the ground, his ears are flung back, his neck outstretched and his tail fans out behind him, contrasting with the motion of the horse.

The Knight’s attention is concentrated outside of the picture, despite being in such close proximity to the menacing forms of Death and the Devil. The Devil, his eyes bulging in anticipation, stands ready to pounce from behind. Death tilts his head knowingly toward the knight, wielding an hourglass to remind him of his mortality and approaching death. Dürer shows how the Knight keeps his composure despite these threatening elements.

Dürer depicts the knight realistically so that the viewer can identify with him. The knight’s lips are pursed and his brow drawn together, creating wrinkles around his mouth and forehead, and his calf definition is visible. However, the exaggerated musculature, bulging veins and heroic stance of the horse are meant to reflect the character and moral attributes of the rider. On the other hand, the figures representing Death and the Devil are decidedly unrealistic: The Devil is covered in hair and has horns, ears, and claws. He is more bestial than human. Death looks like a corpse, and snakes writhe in his hair. Dürer sharply contrasts the figures to echo the moral opposition they represent.

The medium allows Dürer to mimic the effect of light on the figures, and thus make them more realistic. A woodcut does not allow the same quality of shading or fineness of line that an engraving allows. The fine, curving marks he uses to create the supple skin of the horse are clearly distinguishable from the coarse, blunt hatches he uses to give texture to the rocky outcrops. Dürer replicates the metallic luster of the Knight’s armor, helmet, and sword through delicate crosshatching of various shades. The rocks behind the figures create a dark backdrop to enhance the effect of the light on the surfaces of the horse and rider, and draw attention to them. The smooth hide of the horse and shimmering armor of the knight contrast with the bare tree branches, desolate rock faces and the ugly figures of Death and the Devil.

Lines play an important role in emphasizing the contrast between the “good” figures and the “evil” figures. There are numerous perpendicular intersections of lines, which suggest opposition. The Knight sits upright upon his horse with his legs slightly tilted forward. The vertical line of his body intersects the horizontal line created by the body of the horse. The intersection of the Knight’s lance and his sword create another cross, this one with two diagonal lines instead of a horizontal and a vertical. There are also lines which slice between shapes to suggest an opposition between those shapes. The dark slope of the rocks in the background forms a line between the head of the Knight and the figure of Death; the end of the spear cuts through the space between the Knight and the Devil as well. The tip of the spear separates the head of the Knight’s horse from the lowered head of Death’s horse, which is sniffing at a skull on the ground. Dürer employs the direct opposition of lines to reflect the Knight’s moral integrity and his being opposed by the evil forces represented by Death and the Devil.

This engraving can be characterized as a representation of morality and evil as they exist in the human world. The powerful sense of opposition results from Dürer’s use of compositional elements to give meaning to the work.

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