Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand

1508 painting by Albrecht Dürer

Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand

Artist| Albrecht Dürer
Year| 1508
Type| Oil on panel transferred to canvas
Dimensions| 99 cm × 87 cm (39 in × 34 in)
Location| Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand is an oil painting by Albrecht Dürer, dating to 1508 and now at the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, Austria. It is signed on a cartouche which hangs from the artist's self-portrait in the center, saying Iste faciebat Ano Domini 1508 Albertus Dürer Aleman.

## History

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The painting was commissioned by Frederick III, Elector of Saxony for the All Saints' Church, Wittenberg.[1] Frederick had been Dürer's patron since 1496. He himself chose the subject, as his collection of relics included some of the Ten thousand martyrs.

The similar 1496 woodcut.

Dürer had used the same subject for a woodcut of some ten years before, but in the new work he eliminated some macabre details such as the torture of the bishop Acacius, having his eyes stripped through a drill. This scene was replaced by a crucifixion on the right and by the presence of the bishop in chains behind it.

Detail of the forest.

The work was repeatedly mentioned in the correspondence between the artist and Jakob Heller of Frankfurt. Dürer received 280 florins for it.

## Description

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The painting illustrates the legendary martyrdom of ten thousand Christian soldiers perpetrated on Mount Ararat by the King of Persia, Shapur I, by the order of the Roman emperor Hadrian or Antoninus Pius, or, according to other sources, Diocletian.

Dürer painted numerous different martyrdom scenes within a forest with clearings and cliffs. In the foreground are crucifixions, decapitations, crushing with a hammer. The Persian King is portrayed as an Ottoman sultan, riding a horse on the right. The executioners also wear gaudy Ottoman dress. In the background are prisoners walking through to a cliff from where they are thrown down against rocks and thorny bushes, as well as scenes of fighting, stoning and hitting with huge clubs.

At the center of the crowded scene, dressed in black, are two characters who walk placidly, apparently unaware of the horrors around them: one is Dürer's self-portrait (holding his signature), the other his friend and humanist Conrad Celtes, who had died a few months before the execution of the painting.[1]

## See also

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* List of paintings by Albrecht Dürer

## References

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1. ^ a b Posselt, Christina. "Kommentar". sandrart.net. Retrieved 10 June 2013.

## Sources

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* Costantino Porcu, ed. (2004). Dürer. Milan: Rizzoli.

## External links

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* Page at the museum's website (in German)

* v
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Albrecht Dürer

Paintings|

* List of paintings
* Portrait Diptych of Dürer's Parents (1490)
* Portrait of Frederick III of Saxony (1496)
* St. Jerome in the Wilderness (c. 1496)
* Portrait of Dürer's Father at 70 (1497)
* Haller Madonna/Lot and His Daughters (c. 1498)
* Lamentation of Christ (Nuremberg) (attributed, c. 1498)
* Hercules Killing the Stymphalian Birds (1500)
* Lamentation of Christ (Munich) (c. 1500)
* Adoration of the Magi (1504)
* Bagnacavallo Madonna (before 1505)
* Christ Among the Doctors (1506)
* Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman (1505)
* Avarice (1507)
* Adam and Eve (1507)
* Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (1508)
* The Suicide of Lucretia (1518)
* Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (1519)
* Portrait of Emperor Maximilian I (1519)
* Portrait of Jakob Fugger (c. 1520)
* Portrait of Bernhart von Reesen (1521)
* Saint Jerome in His Study (1521)
* The Four Apostles (1526)
* Portrait of Hieronymus Holzschuher (1526)
* Portrait of Johann Kleberger (1526)
* Portrait of Jakob Muffel (1526)

Altarpieces|

* Dresden Altarpiece (c. 1496–1497/1503–1504)
* Seven Sorrows Polyptych (c. 1500)
* Paumgartner Altarpiece (c. 1500)
* Jabach Altarpiece (c. 1503–1504)
* Feast of the Rosary (1506)
* Heller Altarpiece (c. 1508) (with Matthias Grünewald)
* Adoration of the Trinity (1511)

Self-portraits|

* Self-Portrait at the Age of 13 (drawing, 1484)
* Portrait of the Artist Holding a Thistle (1493)
* Self-Portrait at 26 (1498)
* Self-Portrait at 28 (1500)

Woodcuts and
engravings|

* List of woodcuts, engravings
* The Holy Family with the Dragonfly (1495)
* The Holy Family with Three Hares (1496)
* Apocalypse (1498)
* Saint Michael Fighting the Dragon (1498)
* The Four Witches (1497)
* The Sea Monster (1498–1500)
* Saint Sebastian at the Column (1500)
* Visitation (1503)
* Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate (1504)
* Great Passion (1497–1510)
* Life of the Virgin (1510–1511)
* Small Passion (1511)
* Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)
* Melencolia I (1514)
* Saint Jerome in His Study (1514)
* Triumphal Arch (1515)
* Rhinoceros (1515)
* Large Triumphal Carriage (1522)
* Portrait of Erasmus (1526)

Drawings,
watercolours|

* Young Hare (1502)
* Great Piece of Turf (1503)
* Madonna of the Animals (c. 1503)
* Praying Hands (c. 1508)
* Wing of a European Roller (1512)
* Portrait of the Artist's Mother at the Age of 63 (1514)
* Head of a Walrus (1514)
* The Virgin and Child with a Flower on a Grassy Bench (c. 1503)

Museums|

* Albrecht Dürer's House

Family|

* Agnes Dürer (wife)
* Albrecht Dürer the Elder (father)
* Hans Dürer (brother)
* Anton Koberger (godfather)

Related|

* Alte Pinakothek (Self-Portrait) (2000 photograph)
* Dürer (crater)

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