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Landscape with a Double Spruce

ca. 1521–22
Not on view
Altdorfer was a prolific printmaker, but he produced only nine landscape etchings, which date from about 1518 to 1522. These luminous images, lacking any traditional historical or religious narratives, were the first to celebrate landscape as the primary subject matter. This sheet shows an expansive Alpine vista with large mountains, nestled villages, and a river that winds its way beyond the two sprices that command the foreground. This etching was probably produced for a small market of connoisseurs with a taste for intimate and unusual subjects. The sheet demonstrates remarkable spontaneity and a freedom of draftsmanship that echoes that of the artist’s numerous landscape drawings. Altdorfer’s revolutionary landscapes galvanized a group of artists later known as the Danube School.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Landscape with a Double Spruce
  • Artist: Albrecht Altdorfer (German, Regensburg ca. 1480–1538 Regensburg)
  • Date: ca. 1521–22
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 4 5/16 x 6 5/16 in. (11 x 16 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Gift of Halston, by exchange, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, and Pfeiffer Fund, 1993
  • Object Number: 1993.1097
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Design for a Covered Goblet, Albrecht Altdorfer German, Etching
Design for a Covered Goblet
Albrecht Altdorfer
n.d.
Icones Sacrae
Albrecht Altdorfer
Georg Ludwig Frobenius
1604
Ewer with a Siren, Albrecht Altdorfer German, Etching
Ewer with a Siren
Albrecht Altdorfer
n.d.
Covered Goblet with Grotesques on a White Background, Albrecht Altdorfer German, Etching
Covered Goblet with Grotesques on a White Background
Albrecht Altdorfer
n.d.
Jael and Sisera, Albrecht Altdorfer German, Woodcut
Jael and Sisera
Albrecht Altdorfer
1520–25

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