The Patron Saints of Austria

Description

The Patron Saints of Austria presents a gathering of sacred protectors associated with Austria in a woodcut composition by Albrecht Dürer. The Metropolitan Museum of Art identifies the example linked to this catalog record as a Dershau restrike of 1922. That date describes the later impression, rather than placing Dürer’s original design in the twentieth century.

The collective subject gives the image a ceremonial character. The saints are understood as a group whose spiritual identities connect with a particular land and community, making the work both devotional and regional in meaning. The Patron Saints of Austria also offers a reminder that a historical design can survive through later impressions. The restrike designation preserves that distinction between the life of the composition and the date of the associated museum example.