The Arms of the Family Kress von Kressenstein (after 1530): Artwork and History

The Arms of the Family Kress von Kressenstein (after 1530) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Nuremberg School German, 16th century.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

The authorship of this massive and vivid woodcut coat of arms has long eluded scholars. The crowning peacock feathers are an armorial augmentation bestowed on the family by Emperor Charles V in 1530. They prove that the famous Albrecht Dürer, who died in 1528, did not create the print. Indeed, the Nuremberg Kress family likely commissioned this ephemeral shield from one of his followers. The print was meant to be painted; the Kress heraldic colors included red, silver, and black. The dagger superimposed on the main shield would have been particularly striking against a rich red and silver filigreed backdrop.

Object facts

• Title: The Arms of the Family Kress von Kressenstein
• Date: after 1530
• Artist attribution: Nuremberg School German, 16th century
• Place of origin: Germany
• Medium: Woodcut on ivory laid paper
• Dimensions: 32.2 × 27 cm (12 11/16 × 10 11/16 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1929.319

Collection credit

Clarence Buckingham Collection

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.