The Turkish Family

The Turkish Family by Albrecht Dürer, executed sometime between 1491 and 1501, is a significant early engraving by the German master. This classification of artwork, a print, demonstrates Dürer’s foundational role in elevating graphic arts to the level of painting. As a master printmaker, Dürer utilized the demanding technique of line engraving on a copper plate, carefully incising precise lines to create the necessary definition, texture, and tonal contrast visible in the figures’ elaborate costumes.

The composition centers on a group identified historically as a family unit from the Ottoman Empire. The subject matter depicts a man, possibly a soldier given the inclusion of a bow and arrow slung across his back, standing alongside a woman. Crucially, the scene includes an infant, completing the familial grouping. Dürer’s interest in depicting distinct foreign cultures reflects the broader European preoccupation with the expanding Ottoman world during the Renaissance. While the representation of Turkish subjects may reflect European stereotypes rather than ethnographic accuracy, this work functions as a powerful cultural artifact documenting the German perception of the "Other" at the turn of the sixteenth century.

This rare engraving provides crucial insight into Dürer’s evolving style during the period leading up to his first major trip to Italy. Today, the work is held in the comprehensive collection of prints and drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Given its age and status as a seminal work of early German Renaissance art, impressions of this print are frequently available through public domain resources, confirming its enduring legacy.