A Dog in Dürer’s Etching “The Knight, Death and the Devil” by Marco Nevi

A Dog in Dürer’s Etching “The Knight, Death and the Devil” Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer was born in Nuremberg, a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire in 1471. He died aged 58, also in Nuremberg. He was a famous printmaker in his time and travelled across Europe. His work mainly consists of engravings and woodcuts. The Knight, Death & The Devil was printed in 1513, though apparently Durer called it simply “The Knight”. The engraving shows an armoured knight on a horse, leading another horse. The knight is flanked by a rotting corpse holding an hourglass and the Devil. Behind him on a hill is a fortress and beside the horse is a dog.  The knight looks straight forward, undistracted by the corpse, the devil or even the dog.  The elements in the picture represent a Medieval European morality. The knight is not tempted or swayed by the Devil or cowed by his inevitable death. He continues on his journey. The critic Gary Shapiro said the knight signified resolute determination in the absence of hope. Marco Denevi Marco Denevi was born in 1922 in the town of Sáenz Peña a suburb of Buenos Aires in Argentina. He died in Buenos Aires in 1998. He studied law but went to work in an insurance office where he wrote his first novel in snatched hours. His writing bought him enough success that by 1968 when he was 46, he gave up the insurance trade and became a full time author and essayist. Denevi was the author of novels and short stories, some of which were made into films. He won several prizes for his work.   Alberto Manguel Alberto Manguel is the translator of this piece by Denevi. He was born in Buenos Aires in Argentina, but moved to Canada. He is an award winning author of both fiction and non-fiction as well as a translator, editor and essayist. When he was young he worked in a bookshop in Buenos Aires and there met Jorge Luis Borges.  A Dog in Dürer’s Etching “The Knight, Death and the Devil” This is a wonderfully Gothic story. It mainly concerns a knig