Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand [SEP] creator
Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand
The Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand is an oil painting by Albrecht Dürer, dating to 1508 and now at the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, Austria. It is signed on a cartouche which hangs from the artist's self-portrait in the center, saying "Iste fatiebat Ano Domini 1508 Albertus Dürer Aleman".
History.
The painting was commissioned by Frederick III, Elector of Saxony for the All Saints' Church, Wittenberg. Frederick had been Dürer's patron since 1496. He himself
Dürer received 280 florins for it.
Description.
The painting illustrates the legendary martyrdom of ten thousand Christian soldiers perpetrated on Mount Ararat by the King of Persia, Shapur I, by the order of the Roman emperor Hadrian or Antoninus Pius, or, according to other sources, Diocletian.
Dürer painted numerous different martyrdom scenes within a forest with clearings and cliffs. In the foreground are crucifixions, decapitations, crushing with a hammer. The Persian King is portrayed as an Ottoman sultan, riding a horse on the right