DÜRER, Albrecht
(b. 1471, Nürnberg, d. 1528, Nürnberg)

Five Lansquenets and an Oriental on Horseback

c. 1495
Engraving, 132 x 147 mm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

In early commentaries the scene was described as a band of robbers attacking Dürer, or as William Tell. More recently it has been suggested that it had originally been intended as a scene beneath the Cross. Italian influence is manifest, but the grouping, particularly the position of the Oriental horseman, is a little awkward. Note the scotch plaid pattern of the Turk's saddlecloth.