Excitement for Greek speakers: Albrecht Dürer painting discovered in 16th century book in Ancient Greek

Exciting for Greek speakers, the recent discovery of German libraries: on the contents page of a 16th century book with text in ancient Greek they discovered a miniature of Albrecht Dürer!

For centuries, a book printed in 1502 by the Venetian printer Aldos Manutios with text in ancient Greek written in the 2nd century wait patiently on the shelves of the Oldenburg State Library; seldom did a human eye caress its pages, it was valued only as an old book. Until, recently, researchers found on the contents page a small painting which they believe was created by the German Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer.

At with dimensions of 16.5 by 6 cm painting two cherubs above imaginary sea creatures are depicted. The tongues of these beings intertwine and form an elaborate coat of arms; the coat of arms of the famous Nuremberg academic – and acquaintance of Albrecht Dürer – Willibald Pirckheimer.

According to the science minister in the state of Lower Saxony Björn Thümler, Pirckheimer acquired the book shortly after its publication. Announcing the discovery, the Oldenburg State Library noted that 14 books of Dürer’s drawings were sold in 1634 by Pirckheimer’s heirs. Only six of them are known to exist and experts from the library suggest that the book with the text in ancient Greek may be the seventh of those that the academician’s heirs got rid of from Nuremberg.

The book in question became part of the Oldenburg State Library collection in 1791. It is one of 263 volumes that make up the Aldinen Collection, which is widely considered one of the most valuable archives of early European typography.

The book is on display at the library until July 16.