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Melencolia I

Artist Albrecht Dürer (German, May 21, 1471–April 6, 1528)
Title Melencolia I
Date 1514
Medium Engraving on paper
Dimensions Image: 9 3/8 × 7 5/16 in. (23.8 × 18.6 cm)
Plate: 9 1/2 × 7 1/2 in. (24.1 × 19.1 cm)
Sheet: 9 7/8 × 7 13/16 in. (25.1 × 19.8 cm)
Credit Line William H. Conroy Memorial, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 73.37

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About this Work

Dürer’s most famous engraving, Melencolia I, is often characterized as a “spiritual self-portrait.” Seated amid a clutter of tools, with head in hand, a brooding female figure is evidently deflated by her ongoing attempts to fathom the geometry of a massive polyhedron. Indeed, she appears to personify the melancholic temperament increasingly associated in the sixteenth century with artists and creative personalities, as well as with genius. Objects scattered throughout the engraving indicate some attempt to ward off melancholy’s depressive effects, like the crown of healing herbs she wears, or the numerological magic square hanging on the wall behind her. Recent interpretations of this engraving speculate that Dürer deliberately designed it as a kind of Renaissance puzzle-piece, one that celebrates the quest for—rather than the discovery of--knowledge.


Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

Publisher Albrecht Dürer (German, May 21, 1471–April 6, 1528)

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"Melencolia I | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=73.37