Sitting atop the central dome is the Imperial Crown and beneath it is an introduction to the print, in German: “This Arch of Honour with its several portals is erected in praise of the most serene, all-powerful prince and sovereign Maximilian, Elected Roman Emperor and Head of Christendom ... in memory of his honourable reign, his gentility, generosity and triumphal conquests.”

Featured on PDR in the collection The Triumphal Arch of Emperor Maximilian I (1515)

Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian commissioned this extraordinary, grandiose triumphal arch in around 1515 to glorify himself and his ancestors. Never a blueprint for a real arch, it was designed to decorate the walls of town halls and ducal palaces throughout the Empire. It was modelled on the arches of the emperors of ancient Rome and made by pressing a whopping 195 woodcuts onto 36 sheets of paper, to form a huge 3.57 by 2.95 metre composite print. Expressing the grandeur, nobility and (even if it does look a little top heavy) stability of the House of Hapsburg, it must be one of the most ornate propaganda posters in print history. The idea was to induce obedience in its central European audiences. As Neil MacGregor put…