Landscape with Cannon

This extremely rare print is one of only six etchings that Albrecht Dürer produced. He is better known as a masterful engraver and designer of woodcuts. Because Dürer etched on iron plates, which are more susceptible to rust than the copper and bronze alloys used later in the sixteenth century, few good impressions could be pulled. Although all Dürer’s prints were highly collectible, etchings held particular value because of their rarity. In this enigmatic scene a group of Turks, identifiable by their costumes, stand near an outdated cannon, while European infantrymen appear to be paying attention. Although mysterious in nature, this encounter between East and West was very timely in 1518 as the Ottoman Empire expanded.