Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original file
About This Work
The Emperor is shown in three-quarter profile wearing a large, fur-trimmed hat and the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He is positioned beneath an elaborate architectural arch featuring his imperial coat of arms, supported by a double-headed eagle and flanked by griffins. The work combines detailed linear portraiture with highly stylized heraldic and Renaissance architectural motifs.
Maximilian I was a key patron of the Northern Renaissance whose court supported humanists like Johannes Trithemius and Willibald Pirckheimer, who were instrumental in the study of cryptography, Hermeticism, and Neoplatonism. This portrait commemorates a ruler who extensively used complex allegorical and mnemonic systems in his artistic commissions to secure his historical legacy.
Inscriptions(German)
IMPERATOR DIVVS MAXI PIVS FELIX CAESAR MILIANVS AVGVSTVS Der Teür Fürst Kayser Maximilianus ist auff den xii tag des Jenners seins alters im lix Jar seliglich von dyser zeyt geschaiden Anno domini. 1519.
Translation
EMPEROR DIVINE MAXI PIUS FELIX CAESAR MILIANUS AUGUSTUS The noble Prince Emperor Maximilianus departed this life blessedly on the 12th day of January, in the 59th year of his age, in the year of our Lord 1519.
Connected Texts
Johannes Trithemius
Trithemius was a Benedictine abbot and prominent occultist who served as a historical and genealogical advisor to Maximilian I.
Willibald Pirckheimer
A close friend of Dürer and a leading humanist in Maximilian's circle, Pirckheimer translated the 'Hieroglyphica' of Horapollo for the Emperor.
Provenance & Source
Object
Engraving
portrait
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · CC0
https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/petit-palais/oeuvres/l-empereur-maximilien-ier-bartsch-153#infos-principales
Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication
3390 × 4882 px
c271604d12eefd3c228a6f983bfa4df02f910a07
June 26, 2023
March 24, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.