Willibald Pirckheimer, Elegia in obitum Alberti Dureri

In Dürer's 1528 Proportion Doctrine, an "Elegia" is printed on leaf 132 on the death of the painter with four epitaphs. It originates from the Nuremberg humanist Willibald Pirckheimer (1470-1532), who intensified his friendship with Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) towards the end of his stay in Italy. The friendship lasted until his death in 1528.

The poem consists of seventeen distichs and asserts Dürer's importance for the speaker, deals with the theme of the sudden demise of the deceased, describes his virtues and leads to the hope that the art and name of the deceased will survive and Dürer will find reward in the hereafter. Due to the density of its "emotional and ideological content" (Hans Rupprich) and its linguistic-formal creative power, the "Elegia" can be regarded as Pirckheimer's poetic masterpiece.

An autograph of the present printed poem has been preserved in the collection of manuscripts Cod. Arundel 175, leaf 25 at the British Library in London.

To the digitised copy