Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg

Dated and inscribed (in Latin, above portrait): 1523 Thus were his eyes, his cheeks, his features at the age of 34); (below portrait): Albert, by Divine Mercy the most Holy Roman Church's Titular Presbyter Cardinal of St. Chrysogonus, Archbishop of Mainz and Madgeburg, Primate Elector of the Empire, Administer of Halberstadt, Margrave of Brandenburg; (artist's mark at left): AD

In 1523 Dürer engraved a second portrait of Albrecht of Brandenburg based on a new preparatory drawing (Musée du Louvre Paris) that depicts the ageing cardinal in profile. Some months after the dispatch of the engraved copper plate and five hundred impressions, the artist still had not received a reply. He wrote in a letter to his patron: "I fear that either the portrait did not please Your Grace—this would sadden me, as my diligence would have had poor results—or else, I fear that it may not have reached Your Grace at all." The cardinal's silence was, in fact, more likely related to financial straits. Using the portrait to consolidate support, he distributed it among his political allies and friends.