After Artist Albrecht Dürer (German, May 21, 1471–April 6, 1528)
Artist Hieronymus Hopfer (German, active ca. 1520–before 1550)
Title Landscape with Cannon (Die Kanone)
Date Ca. 1530
Medium Etching (copper) on paper
Dimensions Image: 7 9/16 × 11 in. (19.2 × 27.9 cm)
Plate: 7 9/16 × 11 in. (19.2 × 27.9 cm)
Sheet: 8 1/4 x 11 3/4 in. (21 x 29.8 cm)
Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 76.144.2
About this Work
Situated on the outskirts of a German village is an aging cannon, an obsolete model from the fifteenth century that has sparked curiosity among the group of men seen touring the countryside. Landscape with Cannon is one of just six etchings Dürer made in the late 1510s. It is often regarded as an early precursor to the rich tradition of etched landscapes that would later thrive in the Netherlands. Although he would soon abandon the medium for reasons that remain unclear, Dürer’s etchings were among some of his most daring and experimental compositions in the print medium.
Unlike Dürer, Hieronymus Hopfer made this rapidly evolving medium the focus of a successful printmaking career. His copy of Dürer’s Cannon possesses a clarity and bright crispness of line that distinguishes it from its smaller prototype. Hopfer’s virtuosity with the etching needle is of course one reason for this, but etching on copper also had several advantages over working on iron. Unlike iron, copperplates did not rust and leave traces behind on paper that can visibly mar the surface. They were also softer, producing results that were typically sharper and easier to control.
