Magic Square/Examples/Order 4/Dürer

Example of Order $4$ Magic Square

This example of an order $4$ magic square is due to Albrecht Dürer:

$\begin {array} {|c|c|c|c|} \hline 16 & 3 & 2 & 13 \\ \hline 5 & 10 & 11 & 8 \\ \hline 9 & 6 & 7 & 12 \\ \hline 4 & 15 & 14 & 1 \\ \hline \end {array}$

Historical Note

Dürer's magic square appears in Albrecht Dürer's engraving Melencolia I:

The date of the engraving, $1514$, appears in the bottom row of the magic square.

Sources

• 1821: John Jackson: Rational Amusement for Winter Evenings
• 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): $16$
• 1992: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Rational Amusements for Winter Evenings: $153$
• 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $16$
• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): magic square
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): magic square
• 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): magic square