Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) Title border for a work by Pirckheimer. 1513. Woodcut. 124x195mm. Meder 281 b/b. Very fine proof of the separate edition, on watermarked laid paper (Nuremberg arms crowned, Meder 205), with small breaks at the foot of the wood. Small hole in shield. Small remnants of mounting and traces of glue on verso, slightly oxidized (two showing faintly at foot of frame). Small margins. The relationship between Albrecht Dürer and Willibald Pirckheimer was one of deep intellectual friendship, founded on Renaissance humanism and a constant exchange between art, scholarship and new ideas in Nuremberg. Pirckheimer, a great scholar and influential advisor, supported Dürer morally and intellectually, particularly during his trip to Italy, reinforcing the artist's interest in Antiquity and classical proportions. The Pirckheimer coat of arms, from a wealthy patrician family, symbolizes his high social status and humanist identity, affirming both his civic roots in Nuremberg and his membership of a cultivated elite that protected and valued artists like Dürer. The tree in Willibald Pirckheimer's coat of arms is a heraldic play on the surname, since "Birke" means "birch".