Hans Weiditz the Younger (German, 1495-1537) Portrait of Emperor Maximilian I (after Albrecht Durer), 1519 Woodcut on laid paper, with small margins 21-1/4 x 14-7/8 inches (54.0 x 37.8 cm) (image) 21-3/8 x 15-1/8 inches (sheet) Inscribed in center of image: IMPERATOR CAESAR / DIVVS MAXI MILIANVS / PIVS FELIX AVGVSTVS. Inscribed across lower edge in the block: Der Teür Fürst Kayser Maximilianus ist auff den XII tag des Jenners seins alters im / lix Jar seligklich von dyser zeyt geschaiden. Anno domini 1519. Monogrammed in the block at lower right: AD In 1518, Augsburg hosted Maximilian's final imperial diet, at which Albrecht Dürer sat with the emperor in a small chamber and drew him from life. Dürer then produced a woodcut and two paintings of Maximilian from the life drawing. Several woodcut variants were produced after Dürer's original woodblock, including the present print by the gifted printmaker, Hans Weiditz. Weiditz's version is the most elaborate of any of them, with Maximilian placed below a fully ornamented archway. The columns, topped by griffins, hold symbols of the emperor's authority, including the imperial crown and coat of arms, as well as Burgundian flints that bind his chain with the Order of the Golden Fleece. Weiditz created this portrait shortly after Maximilien's death in 1519, and in it he celebrates the emperor both as the direct descendant of Imperial Rome and as a man of Renaissance sensibilities. HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved