The image shows four powerful horses in ornate caparisons, moving in pairs toward the right. Female figures representing Audacia and Magnanimitas guide the first pair, while Experientia and Solertia lead the second, holding laurel wreaths above the animals. Extensive Latin text blocks surrounding the figures explain the moral and philosophical underpinnings of the procession.
This print is part of the 'Great Triumphal Chariot,' a massive allegorical project designed by Dürer and the humanist Willibald Pirckheimer for Emperor Maximilian I. It illustrates the Neoplatonic and Stoic idea that a ruler's power must be guided by Reason (Ratio) and specific intellectual virtues rather than brute force.
Ceterum ut rite Currus incedat, Ratio tanq auriga illum moderatur, quoniã fine ea nil recte peragi potest. Retinetq;
manibus ambabus habenas Nobilitatis nēpe & Potentiæ, quib, Cæsarea Maiestas oēs Reges & Principes supauit.
Ne uero equi tanq animalia rationis expertia, euia Intelligētiæ exorbitent, sed rationabiliter incedant, unusquisq; suo
agitur ductore, ut iuxta pprietatem uirtutis eiusdem incedere ualeat.
Et quamvis oēs homines sub manu dei sunt, præcipue tamen sententia sapientū. Cor regis in manu dei est, q illud diui=
no suo dirigit nutu. Ideo ante Cæsaream suam Maiestatem tabula eadem inscriptione dependet, & pro uerbo Cor de
pictū est cor laurea coronatū, significãs cor Cæsareæ Maiestatis cūctis uirtutibus & honoribus ornatū & coronatū esse.
Ante illos equos duo alii incedunt, qui semper progredi conātur, et per Magnanimitatē
& Audaciam gubernantur.
Et quia verissime constat Maiestatem quondam Cæsaream claritate sua & ornatu illud idem fuisse in terris, quod splen
dor solis in coelis. Ideo supra illam scriptum est, Quod in cœlis sol, hoc in terra Cæsar. Pro uerbo uero Solis, depictus est
sol, & pro uerbo cæsar Aquila.
Maximilianus dei gratia Romanor: Impator Electus.
Honorabilis fidelis dilecte Currum triumphalẽ quē ad Triumphum nŕm ornandū excogitasti, ac per Albertū Dūrer
designare curasti, una cum expositione per harū latorem accepimus, ac diligenter inspeximus, summeq; nobis placuit,
& inuentio tua & animi promptitudo, meritoq; te pro tanto beneficio summa complectimur beniuolentia, & omni offi
cio psequemur. Datū in Ciuitate nostra Inspruck, die.xxix. Marcii, Anno salut. M. D. XVIII. Regni uero nŕi.xxxii.
Per Regem per 6.
Ad mandatum Cæsareæ
Maiestatis proprium.
Cum gratia & priuilegio
Cæsareæ Maiestatis.
Westner.
Honorabili nostro & Imperii sacri fideli dilecto Bilibaldo Pirckheymer Consiliario nostro.
Verum ne Magnanimitas & Audacia Currum per auia rapiant, ante illos duos equos
alii duo incedunt, qui per Experientiam & Solertiam regunt, quonmã nisi Experientia &
Solertia inhibeant, faciliter Magnanimitas & Audacia Currum euertere possent.
Excogitatus & depictus est Currus iste Nurembergae, Impressus uero per Albertum Dürer. Anno. M. D. XXIII.
AVDATIA
MAGNANIMITAS
EXPERIENTIA
SOLERTIA
Translation
Furthermore, that the Chariot may proceed properly, Reason, like a charioteer, guides it, since without her nothing can be accomplished rightly. And he holds in both hands the reins of Nobility and Power, by which His Imperial Majesty has surpassed all Kings and Princes.
But lest the horses, as animals devoid of reason, deviate into the pathless ways of intelligence, but rather proceed reasonably, each one is led by his own guide, so that he may be able to advance according to the propriety of his own virtue.
And although all men are under the hand of God, the opinion of the wise is especially: The heart of the king is in the hand of God, whom He directs by His divine nod. Therefore, before His Imperial Majesty, the same tablet hangs with an inscription, and for the word "Heart," a heart crowned with laurel is depicted, signifying that the heart of His Imperial Majesty is adorned and crowned with all virtues and honors.
Before those horses walk two others, who always endeavor to go forward, and are governed by Magnanimity and Audacity.
And because it is very truly established that the once Imperial Majesty by his brightness and adornment was the same thing on earth as the splendor of the sun is in the heavens, therefore above it is written: What the sun is in the heavens, this is Caesar on earth. For the word "Sun," a sun is depicted, and for the word "Caesar," an Eagle.
Maximilian, by the grace of God, elected Emperor of the Romans.
Honorable, faithful, beloved, we have received the triumphal Chariot which you devised to adorn our Triumph, and which you caused to be designed by Albrecht Dürer, together with the explanation by the bearer of these presents, and we have diligently inspected it, and both your invention and the promptness of your spirit have pleased us greatly; and deservedly do we embrace you for such a great favor with the highest benevolence, and we shall pursue you with every service. Given in our City of Innsbruck, the 29th day of March, in the year of salvation 1518, and of our reign the 32nd.
By the King by himself.
By the command of His Imperial Majesty
himself.
With the grace and privilege
of His Imperial Majesty.
Westner.
To our honorable and faithful beloved of the sacred Empire, Bilibald Pirckheimer, our Counselor.
But lest Magnanimity and Audacity drag the Chariot through pathless ways, before those two horses walk two others, who are ruled by Experience and Shrewdness, since unless Experience and Shrewdness restrain them, Magnanimity and Audacity could easily overturn the Chariot.
This Chariot was devised and depicted at Nuremberg, but printed by Albrecht Dürer. In the year 1523.
AUDACITY
MAGNANIMITY
EXPERIENCE
SHREWDNESS
Connected Texts
Willibald Pirckheimer
The humanist scholar who devised the complex allegorical program and classical symbolism for Dürer's Triumphal Chariot.
Hieroglyphica of Horapollo
Pirckheimer and Dürer utilized the symbolic language derived from this text to create the imperial iconography in the Triumphal series.
