Saint Eustace (c. 1501): Art, History and Details

Saint Eustace (c. 1501) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Here, an encounter with nature dramatically alters a man’s journey through life. After Roman general Placidas tracked a stag in the forest, he saw a miraculous apparition of a crucifix between its horns. The miracle resulted in the general’s (thereafter Saint Eustace) immediate conversion to Christianity. Albrecht Dürer’s largest engraving demonstrates his mastery of tonal values and textures. His intense interest in nature’s variety makes finding the crucifix a kind of treasure hunt. Dürer took particular interest in the hunting dogs by carefully posing them to show five different aspects of the canine figure.

Object facts

• Title: Saint Eustace
• Date: c. 1501
• Creator attribution: Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
• Culture: Germany, late 15th-early 16th Century
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Image: 35.4 x 26 cm (13 15/16 x 10 1/4 in.); Sheet: 35.4 x 26 cm (13 15/16 x 10 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1958.109

A detail from the museum

The artist showed an interest in how bodies move in space by depicting a hunting dog five times from different angles.

Collection credit

Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.