ORThe Open Room
Digital gallery
Back to the NGA collection
The image shows a complex composition of overlapping lines and shapes forming an abstract design. Two crowned figures are balancing on a large wheel, with one holding a scale. There are abstract elements resembling a medieval ship with a hull and oars, and architectural shapes like castles or fortresses on either side. Sun-like rays emanate from the top right. The scene conveys an allegorical depiction involving hierarchy and guidance, with human figures, symbols, and text.
Read the visual description

The image shows a complex composition of overlapping lines and shapes forming an abstract design. Two crowned figures are balancing on a large wheel, with one holding a scale. There are abstract elements resembling a medieval ship with a hull and oars, and architectural shapes like castles or fortresses on either side. Sun-like rays emanate from the top right. The scene conveys an allegorical depiction involving hierarchy and guidance, with human figures, symbols, and text.

National Gallery of Art · Print

Allegory of the Meeting of Pope Paul II and Emperor Frederick III

German 15th Century

Date
c. 1470
Medium
woodcut, hand-colored in green, red lake, yellow, tan, and orange on laid paper
Dimensions
image: 41.3 x 29.2 cm (16 1/4 x 11 1/2 in.) sheet: 38.4 x 28.8 cm (15 1/8 x 11 5/16 in.) overall (external frame dimensions): 59.7 x 44.5 cm (23 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.)
Classification
Print
Accession number
1943.3.9128
Credit line
Rosenwald Collection
Time span
1401 to 1500
Department
CG-E
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • Tree
  • Male figure
  • Ships
  • Emperor
  • Boat
  • Ulm
  • Pope
  • Writing
  • Comet
Provenance

(Heinrich Eisemann, Frankfurt); Martin Aufhäuser [1875-1944], Munich, Holland, and Los Angeles; [1] Lessing J. Rosenwald, Jenkintown, PA; gift to NGA, 1943. [1] For more information on Aufhäuser's collection, see Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Papers, Box 9; Lessing J. Rosenwald, _Recollections of a Collector_, Jenkintown, Pa, 1976, pp. 14-18, and Richard S. Field, _Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts_, Washington, D.C., 1965, Preface (np).

Inscription

in block: [xylographic texts on banderoles and throughout composition to label picturial elements] [see Parshall, Peter, and Rainer Schoch. _Origins of European Printmaking: Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Their Public._ Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2005, pp. 207-208.]

Watermarks

none

NGA object ID 11637. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.