Art, literature & history
The Battle Against the Blue Company
1512–1518
- Dating
- Date range
- Held at
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Medium
- woodcut
- Collection no.
- 1960.34
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Leonhard Beck. The Battle Against the Blue Company. The Cleveland Museum of Art. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
About this artwork
The Battle Against the Blue Company — Leonhard Beck. 1512–1518.
Medium: woodcut. Dimensions: .
Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
This woodcut depicting a military campaign is an illustration for Der Weisskunig, or The White King, an autobiography of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (reigned 1486–1519). Written in German, the book takes the form of a courtly romance novel featuring armored knights. The hero, Maximilian, is the White King. The Blue King and his party represent France. Maximilian was the earliest Renaissance prince to extensively use printed images and texts to cultivate his authority and spread his ideology. Der Weisskunig is one of several major print projects sponsored by the emperor and executed by a legion of advisors, authors, designers, and craftsmen.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.