Albrecht Dürer (Kunst)

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Albrecht Dürer (1417-1528) is recognized as the greatest of German artists and an equal to the masters of the Italian Renaissance, he is considered one of the foremost creators of old master prints, alongside Rembrandt and Goya. His prints, often executed in series, include the Apocalypse (1498) and his two series on the passion of Christ, the Great Passion (1498–1510) and the Little Passion (1510–1511). Dürer’s best known individual engravings include Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), Saint Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514), which has been the subject of extensive analysis and speculation. His most iconic images are his woodcuts of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1497–1498) from the Apocalypse series, the “Rhinoceros,” and numerous self-portraits in oils.

Dürer was born and died in Nuremberg, Germany. He was apprenticed at the age of fifteen to Michel Wolgemut, the most highly respected painter-engraver in town. Having, like most of the artists of his time, a lively sense of his own importance, the young artist carefully preserved a silverpoint drawing of himself (1841; Vienna, Albertina) made two years before entering his apprenticeship. The early self-portrait shows his extreme precocity as a draftsman. While still in his master’s studio in 1490, he painted a portrait of his father (Florence, Uffizi).

In 1490, Dürer set off to work as a journeyman. Not surprisingly, his steps turned in the direction of Colmar, the birthplace of Marin Schongauer for whom he recorded his unwavering admiration in his own engravings. When he reached Colmar in 1491, Dürer found that Schongauer had just died, but three of his brothers were keeping the studio going. Next, in Basel, Dürer found a fourth brother of Schonfauer with whom he appears to have collaborated on illustrations for certain of the city’s book publishers.

Upon his return to Nuremburg, Dürer married the daughter of a prominent local harpist. His Self-Portrait in tempera (1493) captures the artist at the time of his engagement. Immediately after his marriage, Dürer made the first of his journeys to Italy (1494-95), which is illustrated by several admirable landscapes in watercolor executed on the way.

After his return, his activity redoubled. In 1498, he unveiled the Apocalypse, a collection of woodcuts and his first great copperplate engravings. His nudes in the copperplate engravings are a credit to his technical ability, his knowledge of the female form, and his familiarity with Italian art. In the same year, he also painted a Self-Portrait in which he is again dressed as an elegant dandy. Several supremely vigorous portraits followed, including Oswolt Krel (1499) and Young Man Wearing a Cap (1500), as well as numerous religious commissions, such as The Paumgartner Altarpiece (c. 1498-1504) and the pristine Adoration of the Magi (1504).

In these early years of the 16th century, Dürer already enjoyed a great reputation. At this time, he painted his most famous Self-Portrait (1500/1504?), presenting himself as a Christ-like figure.

In 1506, Dürer returned to Italy. In Venice, the Fondaco dei Tedeschi commissioned him to paint The Feast of the Rose Garland (1506). The first effect of this journey was a renewal of the Italian influence, which is evident in the two panels of Adam and Eve (1507). In the Adoration of the Holy Trinity (1511; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), Dürer surpassed himself in brilliance and clarity, though at the cost of some harshness in the color harmony. After this there is an interlude in the succession of paintings, the years 1510 to 1516 being devoted almost entirely to engraving. In 1511 Dürer completed and published several series of wood engravings begin much earlier: the Great Passion, the Little Passion, and the Life of the Virgin; he also engraved the large copperplates, so famous as to have become almost legendary, of St. Jerome in His Study (1514), Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), and Melancholia (1514).

From 1515 to 1520 he was heavily engaged in the great undertaking of Emperor Maximilian, decorating several pages of his prayer book with spontaneous and entertaining drawings and providing designs for woodcuts for the Triumphal Arch and the Triumphal Procession. From 1519, however, comes a painting now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, the subject of which is familiar in German art: the Virgin and Child with St. Anne. The drawing is strong and the masses powerful, but the color lacks warmth.

In 1520-21 Dürer made a triumphal journey through the Low Countries: all the painters went to see him and pay homage to his genius. On the way, he produced a great many drawings and also kept a diary, a priceless record, which he illustrated in silverpoint. On his return he appears to have been largely preoccupied with religious speculation, like his friend Pirkheimer, he had become an ardent follower of the protestant reformer Martin Luther, and with the writing of theoretical treaties (On the Mensuration of Lines and of Whole Bodies, 1525; On the Fortification of Cities, Castles and Small towns, 1527; and Four Books on the Proportions of the Human Body, 1528) In 1526, however, a renewed activity resulted in the production of several of his best portraits, and above all of the solemn, monumental Four Apostles (Alte Pinakothek), which is a masterpiece in its handling of drapery, its profundity, and its simplicity combined with grandeur, and which may also stand as his testament of faith.
•Albrecht Durer’s House, Nuremberg
•Alte Pinakothek, Munich
•Art Institute of Chicago
•Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio
•Clark Art Institute, Massachusetts
•Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
•Courtauld Institute of Art, London
•Dallas Museum of Art
•Detroit Institute of Arts
•Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
•Frick Collection, New York
•Guggenheim, Berlin
•Harvard University Art Museums, Boston
•Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
•J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
•Kunsthaus, Zurich
•Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
•Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland
•Los Angeles County Museum
•Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
•Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes
•Musee Jenisch, Vevey, Switzerland
•Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
•Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
•National Brukenthal Museum, Romania
•National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
•National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
•National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
•National Gallery of Prague
•National Gallery, London, UK
•Philadelphia Museum of Art
•Pierpont Morgan Library, New York
•Pomona College Museum of Art
•Portland Art Museum, Oregon
•Prado Museum, Madrid
•Princeton University Art Museum
•Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
•Samuel H. Kress Foundation Collection
•Schleswig-Holstein Museums, Germany
•Städel Museum, Frankfurt
•State Museums of Berlin
•State Museums of Florence
•The British Museum, London
•The Louvre Museum, Paris
•The Royal Collection, London
•The Uffizi, Florence
•UCLA Hammer Museum of Art
•University of Cambridge Museum, England
•Yale University Art Gallery
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