Affiches Nemesis, Engraving by Albrecht Durer

Nemesis by Albrecht Durer, c. 1501, is a monumental, delicately detailed copper plate engraving of the divine force of retribution and dispenser of just rewards from ancient Greek mythology. The goddess strides across clouds and firmament of the heavens, the landscape of Earth in miniature beneath her feet. In one hand she holds an instrument of retribution for hubris, in the other an enormous goblet, or cornucopia, of plentitude. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was a German painter of the Northern Renaissance and also an engraver, printmaker, mathematician and theorist whose woodcut prints and theoretical treatises secured his reputation as one of the greatest artists of Europe. His many paintings, portraits, altarpieces, watercolors, and engravings were the first in the Northern Renaissance to use classical motifs from antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. The art of landscape painting began with his watercolors. Durer’s unparalleled skill in drawing and engraving as well as mastery of perspective allowed him rapid execution of a range of motifs which elicit universal admiration to this day.