Albrecht Durerthe man who modernized

arts

Who is Albrecht Durer?Albrecht Durer is the greatest exponent of

Northern European Renaissance art. While an

important painter, in his own day Durer was renowned

foremost for his graphic works. Artists across Europe

admired and copied Durer's innovative and powerful

prints, ranging from religious and mythological

scenes, to maps and exotic animals. Durer was a

humanist and a creator. His awareness of his own

role as an artist is apparent in his frontal, Christ-like

Self Portrait, 1500, just one of many self portraits that

he painted in his career. More than simply producing

works for his own time, Durer saw his fame and his

contribution as enduring, and as part of history.

What has Albrecht Durer done?

He influenced

European art

Theory of Art

Mathematics

Art of fortification

Adoption of Lutheranism in Nuremberg

Durer’s biography

Albrecht Durer was the third son of

Albrecht Durer and Barbara Holfer. He was one of their eighteen children.

Portrait Diptych

of Durer's Parents (1490)

Albrecht Durer was born on May 21st

1471 in Imperial Free City of Nuremberg.

At the age of fifteen Durer was

apprenticed to the principal painter

of the town, Michael Wolgemut, a

prolific if undistinguished producer

of small works in the late Gothic

style. Durer learned not only

painting but also wood carving and

elementary copper engraving under

Wolgemut. At the end of his

apprenticeship in 1490 he travelled

(Wanderjahre). He practiced in

Colmar, Basel and in the Low

Countries (Holland) before he

returned to Nuremberg. From this

period, little of the work that can be

attributed to him with certaintysurvives.

Portrait of the Artist Holding a Thistle

(1493)

On July 9, 1494 Durer

was married, according

to an arrangement made

during his absence, to

Agnes Frey, the daughter

of a local merchant. His

relationship with his wife

is unclear and her

reputation has suffered

from a posthumous

assault by Durer's

friends. He did not

remain in Nuremberg

long; in the autumn of

1494 he travelled to Italy,

leaving his wife at

Agnes Durer (1494)

More than any other NorthernEuropean artist, Durer wasengaged by the artisticpractices and theoreticalinterests of Italy. He visited thecountry twice, from 1494 to1495 and again from 1505 to1507, absorbing firsthandsome of the great works of theItalian Renaissance, as well asthe classical heritage andtheoretical writings of theregion. The influenceof Venetian color and designcan be seen in the Feast ofthe Rose Garlands altarpiece

Durer was back in Nuremberg by mid-1507. He remained in Germany until 1520. His reputation spread all over Europe. He was on terms of friendship or friendly communication with all the masters of the age, and Raphael held himself honored in exchanging drawings with Durer.

Durer lived and worked in this house from 1509 to 1528. Now it’s a museum

Durer's

talent, ambition, and

sharp, wide-ranging

intellect earned him the

attention and friendship

of some of the most

prominent figures in

German society. He

became official court

artist to Holy Roman

Emperors Maximilian I

and his successor

Charles V, for whom

Durer designed and

helped execute a range

of artistic projects.

Emperor Maximilian (1518)

After another journey to the

Netherlands Durer finally returned

home in July 1521, having caught an

undetermined illness which afflicted

him for the rest of his life.

Back in Nuremberg he began work on

a series of religious pictures. Many

preliminary sketches and studies

survive, but no paintings on the grand

scale were ever carried out. This was

due in part to his declining health, but

more because of the time he gave to

the preparation of his theoretical works

on geometry and

perspective, proportion and

fortification.

Albrecht Durer died

Durer’s influence on the European art

Durer developed a new

interest in the human

form, as demonstrated by

his nude and antique

studies. He was also one of

the first artists to depict animals “photorealistically”.

“As I grew older, I realized

that it was much better to

insist on the genuine forms of

nature, for simplicity is the

greatest adornment of art”

Albrecht Durer

Durer’s influence on theory of artHe wrote Four Books of Human

Proportion (Vier Bücher von

menschlichen Proportion), only

the first of which was published

during his lifetime (1528), as

well as an introductory manual

of geometric theory for

students (Underweysung der

Messung, 1525), which

includes the first scientific

treatment of perspective by a

Northern European artist.

Durer’s influence on mathematics

Descriptive geometry originated with Durer in his introductory

manual of geometric theory for students although it was only put on a sound mathematical basis in

later works of mathematicians. One of the methods of

overcoming the problems of projection, and describing the

movement of bodies in space, is descriptive geometry. Durer's remarkable achievement was

through applying mathematics to art, he developed such

fundamentally new and important ideas within

mathematics itself.

Durer’s influence on the art of

fortificationIn 1527 Durer publishedanother work, this timeon fortifications. Therewere strong reasons whyhe produced a work onfortifications at this time,for the people ofGermany were in fear ofan invasion by the Turks.Many cities, includingNuremberg, wouldimprove theirfortifications using themethods set out by Durerin this book.

Durer’s influence on the adoption of Lutheranism in Nuremberg

In Nuremberg, a vibrant center of humanism and one of the first to officially embrace the principles of the Reformation, Durer had access to some of Europe's outstanding theologians and scholars, including Erasmus, Philipp Melanchthon, and Willibald Pirkheimer, each captured by the artist in shrewd portraits. For Nuremberg's town hall, the artist painted two panels of the Four Apostles (1526), bearing texts in Martin Luther's translation that pay tribute to the city's adoption of Lutheranism.

Durer’s art is so multifarious! Explore it!

This al l is DURER

Resources used• http://www.albrecht-durer.org/biography.html

• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/durr/hd_durr.htm

• http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Durer.html

• http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/durer_albrecht.html

• http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/albrecht_durer.html

• http://meganandvince.blogspot.ru/2011/03/nuremberg-bavarian-secret-to-pass-on.html