Albrecht Durer

Albrecht Durer stands supreme as a representative of the Northern Renaissance and is one of the greatest creative figures in Western Art. He was apprenticed in his father's goldsmith shop but he grew restless and wanted to become a painter. His father recognized his talent and granted him permission to join the workshop of Michael Wolgemut, a local painter. Fame came to him some time around 1500. As a printmaker, working in woodcut and engraving, his work appealed to a wide audience. A master of the graphic arts as well as a gifted painter he made two major contributions to Western Art. He was one of the first to study beauty in nature for it's own sake and to give it a major role in art. Previously, landscape had been the decorative background for the virgin and saints. Many of his outstanding pieces were executed in watercolor. Secondly, he elevated printmaking to an art form. In creating The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse woodcuts Durer carved the plates himself. During this period the carving for plates was done by craftsmen from artist's sketches. Perhaps the best known of the Durer images was intended as a prelimenary study for an altarpiece for a wealthy Frankfort citizen, Jacob Heller. "Praying Hands", a brush drawing on a blue ground paper, was finished down to the last detail because Durer planned to transpose it exactly in the final oil painting. In the remaining years of his life Durer wanted to leave something behind that would instruct future artists in perspective and proportion. Of his three technical books two were completed and published in his lifetime; Introduction in the Art of Measurement with Compass and Ruler and Teaching about the Fortification of Towns, Castles and Places. The third, Treastise on Human Proportions was completed after his death and used respectfully in the next century by Rubens, Rembrandt and Pouisson. Albrecht Durer died on April 6, 1528.

Albrecht Durer Images:
Squirrels
Young Hare