Numerous portraits, several contemporaneous, exist of Drer. This portrait by Petzolt is closely based on the most famous of the medallic portraits, executed in 1519-20 by Hans Schwarz. Drer, not surprisingly, took an interest in the design of the medal (in a drawing of 1519 in the British Museum he gives two designs for the reverse), and Schwarz has attempted to capture the character of the great man. Hans Daucher copied the portrait in 1522 in his relief of the so-called duel between Drer and Lazarus Spengler, and Melchior Lorch reproduced it in an etching dated 1550. The wood model for the Schwarz medal is in the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Brunswick, while a fine early silver example can be found in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Numerous bronze and white metal versions exist.

The Petzolt medal was possibly produced in 1628 to mark the 100th anniversary of Drer's death. There are three versions. Two have incuse obverse legends, one without date, the other dated 1517. This, the third version, has the obverse legend in relief and is dated 1561. All are rare. Of this type dated 1561 Mende lists four examples; the Gnther Frank collection, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nrnberg; the Edwin Tross collection, Paris; an example sold at auction, Dr. Busso Peus Nachf. Frankfurt, 5-7 October 1976, lot 2324; and this example (Matthias Mende, Drer-Medaillen, Nrnberg 1983, pp.270-273).

Hans Petzolt (1551-1633) worked as a goldsmith at Nrnberg. Rosenberg, Der Goldschmeide Merkzeichen, lists a number of his works in plate, but his fame as a medallist rests entirely on this magnificent portrait medal of Drer.