Albrecht Dürer was already famous across Europe during his lifetime and served as a benchmark for both artists and collectors. His reputation rested primarily on his prints. How did this appreciation for a German artist – whose 555th birthday we will celebrate in 2026 – come about? What accounts for his undiminished modernity to this day?

The exhibition focuses on the former collections of Nobility in Kassel and Darmstadt. Both collections reflect 500 years of enthusiasm for Dürer’s technical virtuosity, his innovative creativity, and his sense for lucrative pictorial ideas. High demand led to repeated appearances of copies on the market. Moreover, works created by other artists were marked with his trademark – the famous monogram. Collectors of the time could hardly distinguish between genuine and supposed Dürer. The exhibition provides insight into connoisseurial engagement with his works as well as modern art-historical research.

Over 130 works are on display, including Dürer’s most famous engravings and woodcuts such as ‘Melencolia I’, the ‘Apocalypse’, and the ‘Rhinoceros’. All exhibits are connected to the collections of Nobility in Kassel and Darmstadt.

The exhibition will be held in autumn 2028 at the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt.