The first hint that I had that there were sexual stories in Albrecht Dürer’s prints came from the discovery of the embedded code that I found in the print known called by other art historians The Promenade or the Young Couple Threatened by Death, although we have no actual idea what Dürer called this print.
THE FIRST HIDDEN CODED MESSAGE FOUND
This motif about illicit love was one of the most popular in the Renaissance and often depicted by artists. A bachelor is secretly trysting with a married woman far away from peering eyes. Here’s what one of the German museums, the Staatliche Kunsthalle, in Karlsruhe, Germany says about this type of composition: (http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/d/Dürer/2/13/1/020.html)
“As the gallant gazes at his companion adoringly, he points ahead to the path. The ostrich feather he is wearing in his hat is a sign of his bachelor status. Behind the tree, unnoticed by the lovers, Death is holding up an hourglass. The picture can be interpreted as a moralizing metaphor for the transitoriness of love and sensuality.
[But] The figure of death does not necessarily indicate a warning to lovers, as this was not customary in the fifteenth century..”
DOES DEATH TRIUMPH?This was a great guess by previous art historians at what this composition meant for 500+ years, not knowing that a coded message was embedded in the neckline. But when I found the coded message, I knew everyone was wrong about the real meaning of this print. It wasn’t customary at the time to have a motif of Death warning the “bad” lovers. People wouldn’t buy this print if they were constantly reminded that their bad behavior would end in death. Why would anyone spend good money for that? No, there was a much better message in this print. One that would make everyone want to buy this print.
Let’s take a close look.
The headdress worn by the woman does signify that she is married, and the man’s clothing,
(the cap with ostrich plume, the tights,
the cape, and the man’s shoes) was typical of unmarried men. Thus we
definitely have a depiction of a married woman trysting with a bachelor.
This headdress has been clearly
identified as a Nuremberg headdress, indicating the woman is from
Nuremberg. Everyone who looked at this print would know that.
SCANDAL IN FASHION
Durer’s
drawings of a typical Nuremberg woman’s dress vs. a typical woman’s
Venetian dress (commonly thought to be a drawing of a prostitute)
The top part of the woman’s dress is
Italian in fashion, while the bottom is from Nuremberg. The City of
Nuremberg regulated clothing in every social class and according to
Nuremberg law, this dress would have been understood as illegal and
scandalous by customers. How did Dürer get away with selling a print of a
totally scandalous dress without getting arrested by the government?
It appears that Dürer depicted a clearly illegal dress to draw attention to his embedded message.
What you see is the following letters
smaller than the neckline as such: “ O N, then a heraldic “rosette”on
the left of the diadem (brooch) on the neckline, then on the right of
the diadem “O R I C A 9,” spelling the words “o! Norica 9”
NORICA, which is the Latin feminine form
of Noricum, means “from Hungary,” not “from Nuremberg” as previous art
historians claimed. Noricum was the ancient Roman name given to the
area from which Dürer’s father emigrated. It thus appears that Dürer
was indicating a Hungarian woman caught in illicit love.
The key to the code is the rosette on
the left of the diadem, which emblematically indicates Sigismund
Stromeyer “zur goldenen Rose (Golden Rose),” a designation of unknown
origin attached to one “line” of the Stromeyer families (of which there
were three). The Stromeyer family was one of the richest, oldest, and
most politically powerful families of the Nuremberg.
THE MEDIEVAL “ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT”
What “if” Albrecht Dürer was selling
scandal sheets about the rich and famous? What if Albrecht Dürer was
the forerunner of “People” magazine and “Entertainment Tonight”?
Let’s take a look.
One of the most famous scandals of
Nuremberg in this time was the cuckolding of the Patrician Johannes
Pirkheimer by Sigismund Stromeyer zur goldenen Rose, with Barbara
Löffelholz, of Hungarian descent, Pirkheimer’s betrothed.
FORCED MARRIAGE
While Johannes was out of the country,
studying law in Italy, Barbara broke her betrothal to him, and married
Sigismund Stromeyer zur goldenen Rose, because Sigismund was a better
catch. Johannes, hearing of this disgrace, hurried back to Nuremberg,
sued in the diocesan court presided over by the Bishop of Bamberg for
custody of Barbara Löffelholz, and won his case.
He married Barbara on April 19, 1466,
where he immediately bore her away to Eichstatt, sixty miles away from
Nuremberg. Johannes never allowed her to return to Nuremberg because of
the scandal.
MOMMY DEAREST
The Pirkheimer family remained in
Eichstatt, where Barbara bore 6 daughters, dying in childbirth with the
seventh child, the only son,Willibald Pirkheimer, whom legend claims to
have been Dürer’s best friend as well as an important patron. After his
wife’s death, Johannes returned to Nuremberg and joined a monastery. The
six daughters all became nuns in Nuremberg.
WHAT A DEAL!
Since the vacant Pirkheimer house, prime
real estate near the City Marketplace was a good place for a goldsmith
to operate, it was rented by Dürer’s father in 1466-1467. Dürer was, in
fact, born in the Pirkheimer House and lived there until age six, when
his father was finally able to purchase a homestead for the family.
Thus, Dürer was intimately aware of this scandal and appears to have
capitalized on it.
For some reason Albrecht Dürer was
really angry at Willibald Pirkheimer to have enshrined his mother as the
sex slut of Nuremberg and to take such a risk in doing this!
We will investigate why in future articles
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