Melencolia I

Albrecht Dürer

1514 · Engraving · National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Size2:3 ratio

Frame

$59Unframed print · made to order

📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.

Complete the setHangs well with these two

This print

Melencolia I

Adam and Eve (Durer)

The Great Piece of Turf

3 × $59 at 16 × 24 in, unframed = $177 → $159.30 as a set · 10% included · free shipping

Choose different prints →

Giclée-printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper

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Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free

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About this work

Artist: Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)
Year: 1514
Medium: Engraving
Original size: 24.2 × 18.8 cm
Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Movement: Northern Renaissance
Series: Meisterstiche (Master Engravings)

A heavy winged woman sits with her head in her hand and a compass idle in her lap, staring past a scatter of tools: a plane, a saw, nails, a sphere, a large truncated stone polyhedron and a sleeping dog, while a small winged child scribbles beside her. On the wall behind hang scales, an hourglass, a bell and a magic square whose rows and columns all add up to 34, with the date 1514 in its bottom row; a ladder leads out of the picture, and in the sky a comet and a rainbow light a bat-like creature carrying a banner with the title. Dürer engraved the plate in Nuremberg in 1514, and it is grouped with Knight, Death and the Devil and Saint Jerome in His Study, all the same size, as his three Master Engravings. No interpretation has been settled; the best known, Erwin Panofsky's, reads it as the melancholy of the creative mind that cannot act on what it imagines. This impression, signed with his monogram and dated in the plate, is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.

Where it works

A brooding winged figure among tools, a polyhedron and a magic square in fine black engraved line on cream, for a study, library or home office at 16×24 in black. A white, warm grey or deep green wall; it pairs with The Astronomer.

Style, size & framing detail

Style: Exhibition poster of a Northern Renaissance painting
Era: 16th century (1514)
Orientation: Portrait
Palette: cream & beige
Mood: grand
Rooms: study or library, home office, living room, dining room, dorm room
Good gift for: housewarming, art lovers

Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.

Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.

Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).

Details & materials

• Exhibition poster — original, drawn in-house • Heavyweight matte fine-art paper, giclée printed at 300 DPI • Sizes: 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in; every size also available framed • Framed option: wood frame in black or natural wood, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, with a plexiglass front and no mat; the print is mounted inside and the frame's outside measures the listed size • Made to order; colours may vary slightly from screen

Shipping & returns

Printed after you order at the facility nearest you, then shipped. Standard delivery is free and takes 4–9 business days from order to door in the US, UK and EU (up to 10 elsewhere); Express takes 4–6 business days. Because each print is made to order we don't take change-of-mind returns, but if it arrives damaged or flawed we'll reprint or refund it — no return needed. Full policy →

Is this the whole painting, or a crop?

The whole work, uncropped. The exhibition-poster edition sets the complete image above typography designed in-house.

Is Melencolia I in the public domain?

Yes. Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) died more than 70 years ago and the work was published before 1929, so the painting itself is public domain. This print is a reproduction made from a high-resolution scan of the original, which is held by National Gallery of Art.

What is it printed on?

Heavyweight matte fine-art paper with pigment inks, made to order in 12×18, 16×24 and 24×36 inches; every size is also offered framed in black or natural wood, with plexiglass and no mat. Colours are matched to the scan, not brightened.

When was Melencolia I painted, and in what medium?

Melencolia I dates from 1514 and was made in engraving; the original measures 24.2 × 18.8 cm.

What size works above a sofa or bed?

Across a three-seat sofa or a queen bed, 24×36 is the size that reads as one statement piece; 16×24 suits a narrower wall or a pair. For Melencolia I we'd choose 16×24.

About this design

A museum-exhibition poster of Albrecht Dürer's Melencolia I — Melencolia I — a winged figure brooding among tools of geometry, a magic square, an hourglass and a great polyhedron — shown whole and uncropped beneath gallery typography. Dürer: The Northern Renaissance, styled as a blockbuster exhibition print. A gallery-style exhibition poster: a celebrated public-domain artwork shown whole and uncropped beneath original exhibition typography set in-house — printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper. Every size is offered unframed or framed in black or natural wood. Part of the Madten Exhibition Posters Collection. — — — Printed to order and shipped by our production partner, Gelato.

Buy with confidence

The Madten promise

Gallery-grade archival giclée. Rich pigment inks on heavyweight fine-art paper (or gallery-wrapped canvas) — built to last, not a poster-shop print.

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free. Every piece is made to order; if it shows up damaged or flawed we remake it, no return needed.

Free worldwide shipping. Made & shipped from the facility nearest you — most orders arrive in 4–9 business days.

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