Knight, Death, and the Devil

Albrecht Dürer's Knight, Death, and the Devil is one of three large prints created between 1513 and 1514, known collectively as his Meisterstiche (master engravings). The other two works in this group are the famous Melencolia I and Saint Jerome in His Study. Though not a trilogy in a formal sense, these engravings are closely connected and complementary, each representing one of the three forms of virtue in medieval scholasticism: theological, intellectual, and moral. 

The concept of the "Christian Knight" in the engraving may have been inspired by Instructions for the Christian Soldier by Erasmus of Rotterdam's (who was a very important Renaissance humanist), which was published in 1504. In it, Erasmus advises that the path of virtue may seem arduous and fraught with enemies—represented by the flesh, the devil, and the world—but one must remain resolute: "All of those spooks and phantoms which come upon you as if you were in the very gorges of Hades must be deemed for naught after the example of Virgil’s Aeneas... Look not behind thee."

In the engraving, Dürer depicts the knight riding through a dark Nordic gorge, steadfastly ignoring the figures of Death, who rides a pale horse and holds out an hourglass as a memento mori, and a grotesque, pig-snouted Devil who follows closely behind. Drawing on the tradition of heroic equestrian portraits, which Dürer had encountered in Italy, the knight embodies unwavering moral virtue, undistracted by the grim figures around him as he remains true to his mission.

P.S. Can you spot a lizard in this engraving? Dürer love to depict various creatures from the world of nature. Here are 7 fantastic animals by Albrecht Dürer.