Germany · c. 1500 / 1583 · drawing after drawing
A celebrated bird,
painted again.
Hans Hoffmann returned to Dürer’s blue roller in 1583. A copy can be an act of sustained attention—and a work with an author of its own.
Look / Try / Return to the object
What does a copy ask us to notice?
1583 / Hans Hoffmann
Hoffmann’s complete drawing. Dürer’s model is identified by Cleveland; ALBERTINA dates the original around 1500. It is not reproduced here.
The record
A model with an unsettled date
Cleveland identifies Hoffmann’s drawing as a copy after Dürer and dates it 1583. The original is held by ALBERTINA, whose current record dates it around 1500 and distinguishes the inscribed “1512” from the work’s creation. The connection is stronger than any neat numerical interval.
Artologium reading
A name beside the bird
Hoffmann’s own monogram changes how we meet this image. Cleveland reads the signature as evidence against an intention to pass this sheet off as Dürer’s original. Homage and possible patronage remain interpretations in its account.
Artologium reading
A name remains on the copy
Cleveland points to Hoffmann’s monogram and date as evidence against an intention to pass the sheet off as Dürer’s original. Copying, homage and attribution belong in the same conversation.
The evidence stays with the story
What we know.
What remains open.
Supported relationship
Cleveland identifies Hoffmann’s 1583 drawing as a copy after Dürer. ALBERTINA dates the original to around 1500 and treats its “1512” inscription as a later record, not a secure creation date.
Read the institution record ↗Description, including the 1512 source drawing and signed copies.
The boundary
The copy relationship is documented, but the interval cannot be stated as exactly seventy-one years. Dürer’s original is linked as a document here; no newly cleared reproduction or pixel comparison is supplied.
Surviving material: Laid paper, laid down on wove paper (watercolor and gouache with gold) · Manufacturing technique: Brush drawing on paper. Our observation controls and diagrams are labeled editorial studies. Source images are unmarked in the viewer.
The research behind this view
Follow the evidence.
AI-assisted institutional source review and original close reading; independent specialist review pending.
Research version pattern-hoffmann.1 · checked 2026-10-24 · independent specialist review pending.
Read the shared research record ↗Sources, qualifications & review notes
Dead Blue Roller ↗
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Description, including the 1512 source drawing and signed copies.
Cleveland identifies Hoffmann’s 1583 drawing as a copy after Dürer. ALBERTINA dates the original to around 1500 and treats its “1512” inscription as a later record, not a secure creation date.
The copy relationship is documented, but the interval cannot be stated as exactly seventy-one years. Dürer’s original is linked as a document here; no newly cleared reproduction or pixel comparison is supplied.
Checked 2026-10-24 · source-text. Official institution API fields reviewed, including attribution qualifiers and dimensions.
Tote Blauracke, object 3133 ↗
ALBERTINA, Vienna · Date field; English commentary on the 1512 inscription; object number 3133
The current date is around 1500; the inscribed 1512 does not securely date the painting.
The research link does not license an image reproduction. No exact interval is computed.
Checked 2026-10-24 · source-text. Read official object text and date field. Corrected the former 71-year claim; original image not imported.
Why this work appears in these filters
- motif / Bird
- Artologium visual observation · Complete supplied photograph; authored visual observation · reviewed 2026-10-24
- repeat structure / Single figure
- Artologium visual observation · Complete supplied photograph; authored visual observation · reviewed 2026-10-24
- material / Paper
- Institution record · Object title, attribution, medium / technique and support fields; Description, including the 1512 source drawing and signed copies. · reviewed 2026-10-24
- technique / Brush drawing on paper
- Institution record · Object title, attribution, medium / technique and support fields; Description, including the 1512 source drawing and signed copies. · reviewed 2026-10-24
Continue into the collection / Catalogue records & comparisons
Inspect the objects in the catalogue.
Dead Blue Roller
The Cleveland Museum of Art · 1946.217. Open the full work, museum attribution, material and dating.
The Presentation in the Temple
A different Dürer work in Cleveland’s collection. It offers another way into the artist’s practice, not the source image for Hoffmann’s bird.
A different kind of connection
From a named copy to the more qualified passage from design to porcelain.