The Emperor Maximilian Presented to Christ by His Patron Saints (1519): Artwork and History

The Emperor Maximilian Presented to Christ by His Patron Saints (1519) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Hans Springinklee German, c. 1495-after 1522.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This memorial woodcut celebrates the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian’s passage into eternal life. He appears kneeling in front of Christ, hoping his resplendent throng of Habsburg family saints will help him enter heaven. The Virgin and Child are present, as are Saints Andrew, Barbara, George, Leopold, Maximilian, and Sebastian, each bearing their attributes. The Latin text below the woodcut lists the emperor’s many titles and territories and his date of death, followed by laudatory verses. Despite its popular broadsheet format, this print was likely distributed to members of the imperial court and other nobles rather than being sold or posted.

Object facts

• Title: The Emperor Maximilian Presented to Christ by His Patron Saints
• Date: 1519
• Artist attribution: Hans Springinklee German, c. 1495-after 1522
• Place of origin: Germany
• Medium: Woodcut in black on cream laid paper with xylographic text
• Dimensions: 54.9 × 38.8 cm (21 5/8 × 15 5/16 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1929.368

Collection credit

William McCallin McKee Memorial Endowment

View the original

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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.