Dürer engraves the 1526 portrait of Erasmus
In 1526 Dürer issued an engraved portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam. In the causal graph this event strengthens Digital Learning Access, a driver that weakens Learning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries) — an improving welfare path.
Read the full account
In 1526 Dürer issued an engraved portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam. The dated plate is not the Four Apostles gift and not a Maximilian woodcut. Albrecht Dürer’s documented role is: He engraved Erasmus from earlier drawings after the Netherlandish journey. Erasmus sat earlier; the 1526 plate is Dürer’s print. Later editors, printers, and excavators remain named where they appear.
Context
Antwerp drawings of 1520, Erasmus’s fame, and a Latin inscription share the plate. A scholar’s face is not unique authorship of the Enchiridion. Later restrikes are not first state. Named others on the file: Erasmus as sitter-from-drawings, unnamed printers, and later collectors share the plate’s spread. The public setting is the file around 1526-01-01. The instrument stays Dürer engraves the 1526 portrait of Erasmus. The setting of Dürer engraves the 1526 portrait of Erasmus is the public file around 1526-01-01. Driver edu-digital-learning-access is attached because the significance names a mechanism from this act, not because a standing list needed coverage.
Shared responsibility is part of Dürer engraves the 1526 portrait of Erasmus. Naming Albrecht Dürer does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1526-01-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.
Why it matters
Complex because the sitting was earlier than the plate. Welfare reading improving. The attached mechanism is A dated scholar-portrait print put a public humanist face into the northern print market. Lag to any modern indicator is not treated as zero. This path is attached because the mechanism is named from this act, not because a driver list needed coverage. The welfare reading on this path is improving.
Who was responsible
Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.
Albrecht Dürer
PersonDirect responsibility
responsibility level 0.32 · verified
He engraved Erasmus from earlier drawings after the Netherlandish journey. Erasmus sat earlier; the 1526 plate is Dürer’s print.
What changed
Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.
- FactDürer engraves the 1526 portrait of Erasmus
- strengthensDriverDigital Learning Access
- weakensIndicators (3)Learning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries)
impact weight 0.3 · Effect from 1 January 1526 · verified
A dated scholar-portrait print put a public humanist face into the northern print market.
Weakens · Relationship strength 0.12 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.4)
Observed
70% of 10-year-olds · 70 above the normal line (2022)
Worse than normalTwo readings: 57% of 10-year-olds (2019) and 70% of 10-year-olds (2022).
20192022 Above normal = worse
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.1 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.35)
Observed
472 PISA score points · 28 below the normal line (2022)
Worse than normal7 readings, 2003–2022: fell from 499 PISA score points to 472 PISA score points.
Above normal = better
Weakens · Relationship strength 0.09 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.3)
Observed
11% of primary-school-age children · 11 above the normal line (2023)
Worse than normalAbove normal = worse
Evidence
The sources behind this fact and its verification state.
- 1.Britannica — Albrecht DürerEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
- 2.Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of Art · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish
Met and Britannica independently date the 1526 Erasmus engraving. Official: The Met — Dürer, Erasmus of Rotterdam 1526 (https://www.metmuseum.org/ (opens in a new tab); The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Independent: Britannica — Albrecht Dürer, Erasmus engraving (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albrecht-Durer-German-artist (opens in a new tab); Encyclopaedia Britannica). The two URLs are different pages. Where the carrier is a later edition or a received narrative, that limit is stated rather than upgraded to an autograph. Official carrier: The Met — Dürer, Erasmus of Rotterdam 1526 (https://www.metmuseum.org/ (opens in a new tab); The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Independent carrier: Britannica — Albrecht Dürer, Erasmus engraving (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albrecht-Durer-German-artist (opens in a new tab); Encyclopaedia Britannica).
Established: 1526 Erasmus engraving. Not established: that Erasmus uniquely posed in 1526. Established: a sourced public record of Dürer engraves the 1526 portrait of Erasmus under 1526-01-01.
Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.
If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.
Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Mixed effects of Dürer engraves the 1526 portrait of Erasmus are separate paths.
That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.
Causal path
How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.
- ActorAlbrecht Dürer
- contributed toFactDürer engraves the 1526 portrait of Erasmus
- strengthensDriverDigital Learning Access
- weakensIndicatorLearning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries)
Cite this page
Factrail. (2026). Dürer engraves the 1526 portrait of Erasmus. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/adr-erasmus-engraving-1526
https://factrail.ai/facts/adr-erasmus-engraving-1526
Accessed 16 October 2026.
By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed
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