If you are a human being, you have likely seen Albrecht Dürer’s Praying Hands somewhere in your lifetime. And if you’re not a human being, what are you doing here?

Praying Hands is one of the most reproduced images in history. We see it tattooed on biceps, printed on t-shirts, and posed in Instagram pictures. You probably didn’t know that it originated as a work of art by one of history’s most famous artists. 

Part of the reason it’s so well recognized is because of how universal the symbol of praying hands is. Whether you’re a church-going individual or not, you know what they mean and what they represent. That’s part of the reason why this image is so enduring. 

Depending on who you ask, Albrecht Dürer may or may not have intended for this image to be as popular as it wound up becoming. The story with the most truth associated goes that Dürer drew up this sketch as a warm-up for an altarpiece for Jacob Heller in the year of our lord 1507. So, this was a sketch, a warm-up, a freestyle for a more sophisticated piece. Dürer drew Praying Hands on self-made blue paper with pencil and ink. And in doing so, he managed to put billions of people for the next 500 years to shame. 

However, Christof Metzger, Chief Curator at Vienna’s Albertina, where Praying Hands presently resides, doesn’t believe that the famous drawing was simply a sketch. He’s certain that there’s much more going on than we’ve been led to believe.

Praying Hands is Metzger’s white whale. He posits that if the drawing was simply a sketch, Dürer wouldn’t have taken the time or energy to go into so much meticulous detail, only for the final iteration to have much less integrity. He instead thinks that it’s more likely that Dürer went so hard on this “sketch” to flex on other artists, and to show prospective patrons just who they’d be commissioning.

It’s an interesting observation. Especially because of the contrast in the way it paints Dürer. In the most widely believed scenario, Dürer is a humble artist, sketching out his plans for a commission. This is something all artists do. It’s part of the craft, and it strengthens the final piece. But in Metzger’s scenario, Dürer used his commission as a way to establish his place at the throne of the art world, and Praying Hands would serve as a reminder for anyone who forgot.

I don’t know which one of these is true. Or if either of them are. But I do know two things: the praying hands' symbolism will live on for at least another five hundred years, and Albrecht Dürer had those hands, in more ways than one.