Portrait of Ulrich Varnbüler by Albrecht
Dürer
The
dedication (in Latin) reads: "Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg wishes to make
known to posterity and to honor by this likeness his dearest friend Ulrich,
surnamed Varnbüler, confidential and principal secretary of the Imperial Roman
Government."
"Varenbüler was
a learned friend of Erasmus and of Pirkheimer, much valued by both, and often
mentioned in their letters. Pirkheimer dedicated to him, in very flattering
terms, his edition of Lucian's dialogue, Navis et Vota. He [Varnbüler] had been since 1507 Protonotary of the
Supreme Court of the Empire, and in 1531 was made Chancellor of this
tribunal."*
The woodcut has been
praised by experts as "the largest and most important of Dürer's portraits
on wood." It was made in 1522.
An impression made
in about 1620 was purchased in 1893 for the collection of the Smithsonian
Museum.
*From: Albrecht Dürer, his Life and Works, a translation by Frederick A. Eaton of the German original by Moritz Thausing.
This
is the preparatory drawing that Dürer made for the woodcut. It is preserved in
Vienna.