Albrecht Dürer’s Memorial to the Peasants' War (1525)

This is an Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) sketch of an unbuilt memorial to the peasant rebels of 1525. The sketch parodies monuments to the royal and princely warlords who fought against the untrained, ill-equipped, and overmatched peasants. The memorial consists of various objects from peasant life (mostly agricultural tools) arranged in columnar form. On top of the column is a peasant in the pose of the resting Christ. He has been stabbed in the back with a sword.

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© Foto Marburg/Art Resource, NY