Charlemagne - King of the Franks

This is an extract from one of Albrecht Dürer's panel paintings (Emperors Charlemagne and Sigismund) that was commissioned by Nuremburg's city council. These were ordered for the Treasure Chamber in the Schopper House, where the imperial regalia were kept the night before they went on ceremonial display on the Friday after Easter. For the rest of the year the regalia were housed in the Church of the Hospital of the Holy Ghost. Dürer was probably commissioned for the portraits in 1510 and received his final payment three years later. His panels are believed to have been ordered to replace two earlier works, now lost, which had been painted soon after the regalia were brought to Nuremberg in 1424. The half length pictures are larger than life. No likenesses are known of Charlemagne, who ruled from 800-14, and Dürer therefore invented his portrait, presenting him frontally in an imposing posture. His interpretation of Charlemagne's appearance was to influence depictions of the Emperor u