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The
central figure in the German Renaissance was Albrecht Dürer, a painter
and graphic artist, one of the most outstanding personalities in the history
of art.
Albrecht Dürer was born on 21 May, 1471 in Nuremberg, south Germany,
son of a prosperous goldsmith Albrecht Dürer the Elder (1427-1502),
and Barbara Holper. His early training was in drawing, woodcutting and
printing, which were to remain his main and favorite media throughout his
artistic career. 1486 through 1489 he was apprenticed in the workshop of
Nuremberg artist Michael Wolgemut.
He traveled much. In 1490 he left his native city for four year, probably
initially visiting Cologne and possibly the Netherlands. He traveled to
Italy twice in 1494-95 and 1505-07, visited Venice and Bologna, perhaps
Florence and Rome. His fame was broadcasted through his engravings, and
artists in Italy were soon drawing on them for ideas. In Venice he knew
and admired above all the aged Giovanni
Bellini. In 1495 he established his own workshop in Nuremberg.
His best known works are his 18 engravings of the Apocalypse cycle, the
most interesting of which is The Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse (1498). One of his patrons was the Frederick
the Wise, Elector of Saxony from 1496, whose portrait he painted in
1496. He commissioned Dürer to paint several altarpieces: The
Seven Sorrows of the Virgin (c.1496-1497), The
Jabach Altarpiece (c.1503-1504), The
Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (1508) and The
Adoration of the Magi (1504), which is considered to be one
of the Dürer's masterpieces. Dürer's other patrons for religious
works were wealthy Nuremberg citizens, who commissioned the following pieces:
Lot
Fleeing with His Daughters from Sodom (c.1498), The
Paumgartner Altarpiece (c.1498-1504), Lamentation
for Christ (c.1500-1503), The
Adoration of the Holy Trinity (1511). Dürer was also known
for his portraits, which were frequently commissioned from him. Among his
best are Portrait of Dürer's Father at
70 (1497), Portrait of Oswolt
Krel (1499), Portrait of Bernard
von Reesen (1521), Portrait of
Hieronymus Holzschuher (1526). He also painted several self-portraits,
which give us the greatest insight into his character and beliefs: Self-Portrait
at 22 (1493), Self-Portrait at
26 (1498) and Self-Portrait at
28 (1500).
Throughout his life Dürer produced a lot of watercolour landscapes
and nature studies, the best are Saint John's
Church (1489), House by a Pond
(1496), Willow Mill (1496-1498),
A
Young Hare (1502), The Large Turf
(1503).
Dürer's greatest achievement in printmaking were the three engravings
of 1513-1514, regarded as his masterpieces Knight,
Death and the Devil (1513), St.
Jerome in His Study (1514) and Melencolia
I (1514). After completing these engravings Dürer worked
for the Emperor Maximilian , who commissioned
him to design a huge print The Triumphal Arch, to celebrate the
Emperor's achievements. This monumental project, composed of 192 woodblocks
and 330 cm (11') high, is still the largest woodcut print ever made. In
1515 Emperor Maximilian granted him a pension of 100 florins, although
it was stopped after his death in 1519. Dürer had to travel to the
Netherlands in 1520-1521 to the court of the Emperor
Charles V to have the pension confirmed. During his journey he met
many famous Netherlands painters such as Quentin
Massys, Joos van Cleve, Lucys van Leyden and others. In Antwerp he
met Erasmus, the humanist scholar, and sketched
his portrait.
Dürer became an early and enthusiastic follower of Martin
Luther. His new faith can be sensed in the growing austerity of style
and subject in his religious works after 1520. The climax of this trend
is represented by The Four Holy Men
(1526).
Albrecht Dürer is akin to Leonardo
in his restless intellectual curiosity. He wrote and published theoretical
works: Manual of Measurement (1525); Various Instructions for
the Fortification of Towns, Castles and other Localities (1527). Dürer
died on 6 April 1528 in Nuremberg and was buried in St. John’s churchyard.
His Four Books on Human Proportion were published in October.
Dürer is the most universal, the most balanced and the greatest of
all German artists of any period.
Bibliography:
Dürer and His Time. by M. Libman. Moscow. 1972.
Dürer. by S. Lvov. Moscow. 1985.
Painting of Europe. XIII-XX centuries. Encyclopedic Dictionary.
Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1999.
The
Complete Engravings, Etchings and Drypoints of Albrecht Duurer
by Albrecht Duurer. Dover Pubns, 1972.
The
Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Durer by Albrecht Durer, Willi
Kurth (Editor). Dover Pubns, 1985.
Drawings
of Albrecht Durer by Heinrich Wolfflin (Editor), Albrecht Durer.
Dover Pubns, 1970.
Albrecht
Durer (Masters of German Art Series) by Anja-Franziska Eichler,
Albrecht Durer. Konemann, 1999.
The
Human Figure: The Complete Dresden Sketchbook by Albrecht Durer,
Walter L. Strauss. Dover Publications, 1972.
Albrecht
Durer's Renaissance : Humanism, Reformation, and the Art of Faith
(Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Civilization) by David Hotchkiss
Price. UMP, 2003.
The
Life and Art of Albrecht Durer by E. Panofsky. Princeton University
Press, 1971.
Nature's
Artist: Plants and Animals by Albrecht Durer, Victoria Salley.
Prestel, 2003.