A grandiose plan that resulted in the unique arch of Emperor Maximilian I (17 photos)

Unlike other crowned heads, whose ambitions were frozen in stone, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I preferred a different form of immortality.





His grandiose monuments were born not in stonemason workshops, but in printing houses. His crowning achievement was the Arc de Triomphe, a gigantic collaboration of 195 woodcuts.



Assembled together, they formed a portal over three meters high. Although the emperor had other plans, only this project was completed during his lifetime, cementing its status as one of the greatest masterpieces of printing art.





Emperor Maximilian I

Maximilian based his paper creation on the classical arches of Roman rulers. He entrusted the development of the sketches to the Tyrolean architect and court artist Jörg Kölderer, but the emperor personally developed the overall iconographic program glorifying his reign and deeds.



The first edition of the Arc de Triomphe, printed from 195 blocks on 36 sheets, in the British Museum

The arch is literally imbued with symbolism and is divided into three bays: "Honor and Power," "Praise," and "Nobility." They are filled with chronicles of the emperor's life: from diplomatic alliances and marriages to battle scenes and private passions. The composition is crowned by Maximilian's family tree, surrounded by the aura of the legendary powers of Francia, Sicambria, and Troy. The flanks are guarded by towers lined with busts: on the left is a gallery of emperors and kings, on the right is the face of the ruler's ancestors. Detailed descriptions on the panels and a lengthy inscription at the bottom serve as a guide to this complex visual encyclopedia.



Albrecht Dürer, German painter and engraver

A whole constellation of artists, whose individual styles did not merge into a unified style, worked on the creation of the engravings. In addition to Albrecht Dürer, his brother Hans, his students Wolf Traut and Hans Springinklee, and Albrecht Altdorfer also produced designs for the engravers. As the British Museum notes, this stylistic diversity creates an "unbalanced structure" that "complicates the overall perception, obscuring the brilliance of some elements and concealing the weaknesses of others."



The first series of prints, numbering seven hundred copies, was published in 1517–1518. Maximilian sent them as diplomatic gifts to princely courts and free cities, ordering them to decorate the walls of palaces and town halls with these sheets. The originals from that very first print run today have become gems of the collections of the British Museum, Vienna's Albertina, and the repositories of Berlin, Copenhagen, and Prague.



The Emperor's legacy outlived him. A second order for three hundred copies was initiated by his grandson, Archduke Ferdinand. Years later, a third print run was issued by Ferdinand's son, Archduke Karl. By the 18th century, the wooden molds were severely damaged, but even in this state, prints continued to be made from them until the end of the 19th century.



171 original printing plates of the original 195 have survived. All have found a permanent home in the graphic collection of the Albertina Museum in Vienna.





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