Albrecht Durer was the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance. He experimented in many media, and is as well-known for his delicate watercolours of animal and plant life as for the dramatic woodcuts and exquisite engravings on religious themes, which brought him fame in his own to,e/ His art is blend of Northern and Southern traditions, profoundly influenced by the Venetian painting he saw during his visits to the city. Durer was an independent man, proud of his appearance and very sure of his talent. Intelligent and cultured, he mixed with humanists and scholars, while his patrons included the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. A religious man throughout his life, in later years he became increasingly preoccupied with the advent of the Lutheran Reformation. He died in 1528 and was buried in his home town of Nuremberg.

1. First created 16 Jan 2013. Version 2.0 - 14 Dec 2020. Daperro. London.
Albrecht Durer
The Maestro of Northern Renaissance

2. Nuremberg in 1492. - Durer was born in Nuremberg in 1471, only 4 years older than
Michelangelo. The city was prosperous, lively and politically stable. It was often referred to
as the ‘Florence of the North’, at the time. This woodcut was originally from the famous
Nuremberg Chronicle, which was produced by Durer’s teacher and his workshop.
Nuremberg

3. His Parent
Durer was the third of 18 children, most of them did not survive infancy. The painting on the
right was Durer’s father, who was a goldsmith. This was Durer’s first oil painting. On the left
was Durer’s mother.

4. Durer was a contemporary of Leonardo and Michelangelo. He was the most well-known
painter of the northern Renaissance.

5. Durer was a good portraitist. You can see his style changing through his life.

6. His Teacher
Michael Wolgemut was Durer’s teacher, who ran a workshop in the city, supplying delightful
illustrations to the city’s printers.

7. Amongst the earliest of Durer’s watercolours, painted on the outskirt of Nuremberg, showing a
copper wire workshop. Durer followed the Netherlandish landscape using brown for the
foreground, green for the middle ground and blue in the distance.
The Apprenticeship Years

8. Marriage
This becomes the very first self portrait in oil
in the history of painting.
Durer’s parents arranged a marriage for him
to a local girl, Agnes (above). Before Durer
made his way home, he painted the portrait
on the right and sent it to his bride to be.
After his apprenticeship, Durer spent his
time travelling as a journeyman (travelling
craftsman) between 1490 and 1494.

9. On his visit to Venice, Durer made this sketch of a crab. He was fascinated by the natural world.
Crab

10. This was painted on his
way back to Nuremberg
from Italy.
First trip to Italy

11. First trip to Italy

12. First Altarpiece
This is the first of Durer’s altarpieces, for
the palace church at Wittenberg.
Study of a Man with
a Drill c1496.
The seven sorrows are the Circumcision,
the Flight into Egypt, debate with the
Doctors, the bearing of the Cross, the
Nailing to the cross, the Crucifixion and the
Lamentation.

13. Furleger Woman
Young woman of the Furleger
family, part of the of patriciate of
Nuremberg

14. This is the second of Durer’s self
portrait, painted when he was 27.
The artist posed in self-confidence,
dressed in fine flamboyant Italian
costume with gloves, in front of a
window, like that of an Italian
portrait, with a grandiose landscape,
possibly the Alps.
Italy treated their artist with high
respect and admiration. Officially,
Durer only enjoyed the rank of
craftsman in Nuremberg.
Later in the year Durer was admitted
to the Herrentrinkstube
(Gentleman’s Taproom), a club for
patrician. The portrait reflects
Durer’s concept of an artist and his
personal pride of his profession. It is
the image of an artist, as Durer saw
it.
An Artist Cult

15. The Successful Years
Durer’s “AD” monogram first appeared in 1495. It was a trademark or a logo. It represented
quality and the genuine article. It showed the acute awareness of Durer as a businessman.
In his time, he also had to deal with copyright violation and forgery. Durer made more money
in prints than as a painter.

16. The Portrait of Oswolt Krel with two smaller panels depicting aggressive hair-covered wild
men. The portrait shows Durer’s attempt to penetrate the psychology behind the face. His
gaze seems threatening, with a blood red curtain behind.
Oswolt Krel

17. Elspeth
Elspeth holding a wedding ring, a large
gold necklace, dressed in fine clothing.
Through the window is a wooded
landscape beneath a stormy sky.
The Tuchers were one of the leading
family of Nuremberg. There was
probably originally a companion portrait
of Elsbeth’s husband, showing him
facing her as Durer painted another
married couple from the family in this
format.

18. The Paumgartner Altarpiece 1498-1504, on the left was St George, (a portrait of Stephen
Paumgartner) and on the right was St Eustace (Lukas Paumgartner).
Paumartner Altarpiece

19. As Durer became well-known after his
Apocalypse, he received more
commissions for paintings. This was on
the right of the Paumgartner Altarpiece, St
Eustace (Lukas Paumgartner).
Central panel commemorates a
pilgrimage that the Paumgartner family
made to the Holy Land, the birth place of
Christ. The smaller groups of figures on
the bottom left and right were members of
the Paumgartner family.
Paumartner Altarpiece

20. Durer was a master of self-promotion, showing himself as a prodigy, as an Italian painter and
perhaps with the divine gift of artistic inspiration. He was a self-conscious artist inspired by
the Renaissance and the humanist ideals. He was also a religious man. In his later years he
was sympathetic to Martin Luther’s call to reform the church.
On the right is a self
portrait of Durer in the
nude. 1505, age 34.
1484. Age 13.
1493. Age 22.
1498. Age 27.
1500 Age 29.

21. In this portrait, Durer dressed in a fur coat worn
by the patricians and humanists of northern
Europe, with a Latin inscriptions of a learned man.
Here Durer did not portrait himself objectively but
to paint himself as he would like others to see
him. On the upper part of the portrait, he
presented himself as an iconic image, using the
symmetrical Byzantine format of Christ with a
steadfast gaze, as a Christ in Art.
“Durer openly declares that he is to emulate
Christ in his own way. In his miraculous creativity,
in sacrifice and in his attempt to communicate the
truth to men, he will adopt the most dedicated
mode of life.” (Alistair Smith in Durer published by
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1968 p 5).
In the lower part of the portrait with the patricians
and humanists costume, the casual gesture of
his fingers touching the fur, bring us back to this
earthly world.
It is a journey by Durer to elevate the painter from
craftsman to artist, bringing home the
Renaissance ideal of the dignity of man, to his
native country.
Artist Vision

22. Two paintings on the same subject
painted about the same time.
Lamentation of Christ

23. The landscape of Lamentation in the background, showing his quality as a landscape painter.
Lamentation of Christ Detail

24. A Bunny
This is one of the most
loved painting of Durer and
possible the finest of his
nature paintings. The alert
hare covered in fur with
ears extended ready to
spring for an escape. This
painting demonstrates
Durer’s obsession with
details.

25. Turf
This is a surprising subject matter in
his time. Not only it shows originality
but also from a point view of an insect.

26. Note how the receding architectural ruins provided the perspective for the receding depth.
Adoration of
the Magi

27. Venetian Woman
Attractively painted with a close-up view
of the face, omitting the arms as in the
Venetian format. She was dressed in the
Venetian hairstyle and fashion.

28. On the right is a nude self portrait of Durer
exposing himself as like a flagellated Christ with
hands bounded to a pillar. Was Durer putting
himself under merciless and ruthless self
examination?
This portrait when compares with his 1500 ‘Christ’
portrait cannot be more different.
An Unusual Self Portrait

29. Christ Among the Doctors

30. Gestures to suggest firmness and doubts.
Christ Among the Doctors

31. Detail portraits of the Doctors. The painting suggests Durer may have been influenced by the
characterization of the figures in a painting (using facial features as a way to express different
characters.
Christ Among the Doctors

32. The painting of the woman was painted on
the back of the ‘German Young Man’, who
did not pay Durer for his portrait (above).
The woman’s sagging breasts, the
wrinkles, the greyish blonde hair and the
withering arm were once belonged to a
beautiful woman. She was holding a bag of
gold, as if she was offering the gold to buy
back her youth and beauty.
Is this Durer’s message to the ‘Young
Man’?
The Old Woman and the Young Man

33. These panels were the earliest known life-size nudes in Northern Europe. It provided Durer a
chance to explore nudes painting, after his return from Italy.
Adam & Eve

34. Durer’s iconic study of the
praying hands. He was a
devout Christian. In his
own eyes he was a man
heavily burdened with sin.
Praying Hands

35. Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand
Ten thousand Christian soldiers on
Mount Ararat were killed by the King
of Persia, by the order of the Roman
Emperor. The Persian were dressed
in Ottoman dress.

36. Adoration of the Trinity
Painting was commissioned
for a chapel dedicated to the
Trinity and All Saints. Trinity is
made up of the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost (the Dove).
At the very bottom right corner
of the painting, Durer has
included a self-portrait of
himself.

37. Wing
Spectacular, shimmering colours are astonishing. Durer were always attracted by exotic animals.

38. St James
Portrait of St James in an
anguished state, with head
slight tilted, furrowed brows and
dropped lower lip.

39. Maximilian I
Maximilian I, the most powerful
monarch of northern Europe
was a Holy Roman Emperor.
Durer met Maximilian I, who
commissioned him to work on
two large woodcuts. He gave
Durer an annual pension in
1515. This oil painting was
based on a sketch made a year
earlier. It was painted after his
death. The broken
pomegranate, a symbol of the
Resurrection and his own
personal emblem.

40. Hieronymus Holzschuher
Hieronymus Holzschuher was a close
friend of Durer. He was a learned man,
from a powerful local family. He served as
the mayor of Nuremberg. Durer painted
his beard in remarkable details here.

41. Four Apostilles
This is the last of Durer’s last major work.
There are two inscriptions on the bottom
of the panels warning world leaders to
follow the words of God and not human
delusions. The inscription marked Durer’s
belief in the Reformation and concern
about religious fanaticism.
The inscription was sawed off by the
Catholic Bavarian Duke Maximilian. The
inscription was finally reunited with the
painting in 1922.

42. On the left is the face of St Peter and on the right, the face of St Paul. The painting was
painted with northern precision of detail with Italian amplitude of form.
Four Apostilles Details

43. Printing was introduced by a German, Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 in Mainz. Soon it
spread to Italy. But by the last quarter of the 15C, its growth was explosive in Germany and
the Low Countries. By 1500, more than 20 million books were printed in Western Europe and
some 2500 cities had their own printers.
Printing was an information revolution. It allowed us to communicate across space and time.
Ideas were spreading like wild fire. Reformation theology, humanist philosophy, scientific
knowledge, popular novels and navigation charts were spread by printing, with far reaching
consequences. It also accelerated literacy, commercial and trading activities.
Spread of Printing

44. Drawing of Erasmus
Erasmus of Rotterdam (Desiderius
Erasmus Rotterdam's 1466-1536)
was a Humanist and a proponent of
religious toleration. He was critical
of the abuses within the Catholic
church and called for reform. He
was one of the most influential
humanist of his time.
In 1520 Durer went to the
Netherlands with his wife Agnes.
Durer was warmly welcomed and
was treated as a celebrity. Durer
met Erasmus in Brussels and
sketched his portrait.

45. Apocalypse
In 1498, Durer published The Apocalypse,
which included a series of 15 woodcuts by
Durer, based on the Book of Revelation in
the Bible. The book rapidly brought him
wealth and fame across Europe. The
book was published in Latin and in
German. The second edition of the book
was published 13 years later in 1511.
Durer perhaps more any the artist
understood the potential and the
importance of publishing his works to a
much larger audience. By doing so, he
freed the artist from the patronage system
and allowed them to pursue an
independent career.
It was on his prints even more than on his
paintings that Durer’s international
reputation was based.

46. The Knight
This is regarded as one of his
masterpieces of engraving. It is an
allegorical picture, showing the Christian
as a knight, ignoring the horned devil and
passing the figure of Death with courage.

47. The magic number is 34.
Melancholia
Melancholia is surrounded by tools,
instruments, geometric figures and
a magic square (representing
mathematics). These are means of
creation or representing creativity.
On the background is the
apocalyptic sign of a rainbow and a
comet in the sky.

48. However the complex meanings of the
image are not easily understood. This
was engraved was made during the
year when Durer’s mother died, which
affected him greatly.
So Durer was saying something about
creativities, inspirations, perhaps
knowledge, melancholy and
apocalypse. It is the most difficult
piece of Durer’s work to understand.
Melancholia is a personification of the
melancholic sentiment.
One interpretation is the woman may
be a representation of a Muse, waiting
inspiration and fearful that it may not
return.
Melancholia

49. Rhino

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Music – JS Bach Keyboard Concerto in F Minor - Il Largo.
The End

52. Renaissance