1520

Emperor Maximilian I

Netherlandish (active Leiden), c. 1494 - 1533

The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519) was an influential patron of printmaking in the early sixteenth century who shrewdly used the printed image as a means of self-promotion. This portrait, made by van Leyden to commemorate the emperor’s death, was one of the first etchings to be printed from a copper plate rather than one of iron or steel. The softer copper allowed van Leyden to add engraved details to Maximilian’s face that would not have been possible in the harder metals. Cleverly, the artist used etching needles of different thicknesses to bring variety and depth to the etched areas, which made it easier to seamlessly integrate the fine engraved lines that were his trademark.