Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer (May 21, 1471 - Apr 6, 1528) was a painter, printmaker and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was still in his twenties, due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was in communication with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, and from 1512 he was patronized by emperor Maximilian I.

His vast body of work includes engravings, his preferred technique in his later prints, altarpieces, portraits and self-portraits, watercolours and books. The woodcuts, such as the Apocalypse series, retain a more Gothic flavour than the rest of his work. His well-known engravings include the Knight, Death, and the Devil, Saint Jerome in his Study and Melencolia I, which has been the subject of extensive analysis and interpretation. His watercolours also mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, while his ambitious woodcuts revolutionized the potential of that medium.

Albrecht Dürer's father, who was also called Albrecht, came from Hungary to Nuremberg in 1455 and successfully practiced the craftsmanship of a goldsmith from 1467. He married Barbara Holper (* 1452, † 16 May 1514), the daughter of Hieronymus Holper Within 25 years she gave birth to 18 Children of whom only three survived Albrecht was born on 21 May 1471 as a third child of this marriage: "I Albrecht Dürer was born on the Prudentientage, who was born on Friday, 1471 years, in the free imperial city of Nuremberg" The family Dürer in his own house below the castle (Burgstr 27: corner house of the alley under the Vesten / today: Obere Schmiedgasse) Albrecht Dürer jun described his mother as an industrious churchgoer, who "diligently" and often punished their children by the Many pregnancies she was often ill

In his early youth the father took him to his workshop to make him a goldsmith. From these years his portrait, which he drew after the mirror on parchment (now in the Albertina in Vienna), and a Madonna with two angels from 1485 Kupferstichkabinett Berlin)

At the end of 1486 to 1490 he studied and worked with the Nuremberg painter Michael Wolgemut; Indices indicate that Dürer was involved in the design work on the Schedelian World Chronicle, published in 1493. In addition, Dürer also developed on the basis of contemporary copper engravings, for example those of Martin Schongauer

From Easter 1490 to Whitsun 1494 Dürer went on a journey to the Upper Rhine; The exact path of this first of three major journeys during his life is unknown He was perhaps first in the Netherlands or in the Middle Rhine before he stayed in Alsace in 1492. The painter Martin Schongauer, whose work had a great impact on him, did not learn any more , Since he had already died on February 2, 1491 Later Dürer worked in Basel Here the famous woodcuts to Sebastian Brant's fool ship (first printing in 1494)

In 1494, he married Agnes Frey (1475 - 1539), the daughter of a friend of his father from an old-established, respected family of Nuremberg, who, however, contributed only 200 florins to the marriage

In the period up to 1500, he created a series of small landscaped watercolors with motifs from Nuremberg, or motifs from the stations of his first journey to Italy, which he had already done three months after his wedding in the first half of October 1494. This journey reinforced his interest in art Of the Quattrocento In May 1495 he returned to Nuremberg

It is doubted by the younger research that Diirer ever crossed the borders of the German language area, and the evidence of a stay in Venice piled up: Diirer himself did not mention a trip to Venice in his family chronicle in 1494/95 Italian features in his works from 1497 interpret some as the direct influence of the Paduan painter Andrea Mantegna, who was not in Padua in 1494/95, but whose works Dürer could have seen there. It is only proving that Diirer in Innsbruck, Trento and Arco at Lake Garda There is no trace of the towns of Arco in Dürer's watercolors, and therefore not in Venice. The route also speaks against the Venice theory: for Diirer it would have been more convenient to take the usual route for Venice (merchants) to Venice Over Cortina and Treviso and was called "Via Norimbergi" The pictures from his later, demonstrablely Venetian Time from 1505 have significantly stronger Venetian characteristics

Dürer was independent in 1497, and from 1503 on he was able to run a workshop with Hans Schiitzlein, Hans von Kulmbach, and Hans Baldung Grien in the old town of Nuremberg. He worked very intensively on his works. In this first period of his artistic life, mainly portraits and some of them fell (1497) in London (National Gallery), his self portrait (1498) in the Prado in Madrid, the Lindauer merchant Oswald Krell (labeled "Oswolt Krel 1499") in Munich, his self portrait 1500), also in Munich, portrait of Frederick the Wise (1494/97) in Berlin (Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz), among others. The small Christ on the Cross in the Dresden Gallery also dates from 1500, a picture of unrivaled subtlety of execution An altarpiece also in Dresden ("The Seven Sorrows of Mary" and Mary worshiping the child, center stage L in Munich), the "Dresden Altar"

He devoted himself chiefly to engraving and drawing for the woodcut, especially at the earliest; (1498), a succession of 16 woodcuts, Adam and Eve (1504), a copper engraving and The Prodigal Son The pigs (around 1496) (fig.), Whose animal representation was decisive for the re-breeding of the so-called Albrecht-Dürer pig

Diirer's connection to humanism is expressed, for example, in Conrad Celtis' Quatuor libri Amorum (1502), which Diirer had previously praised as second Apelles

In 1505 he undertook a verifiable trip to Venice, where the greatest Renaissance painters of the Venetian school, Tizian, Giorgione, Palma il Vecchio, were active. But above all, Giovanni Bellini, whom he described as a "pest in gemell" (Best in Painting) When his earnest study, his diligence, his insight, had previously taught him the value of the correctness of the drawing and a true view of nature, he saw here an unimaginable power and depth of coloring, lasting To him

The German merchants in Venice, whose chief was Jakob Fugger from Augsburg, ordered a great picture for the church of St. Bartholomew, the Rosary, which Emperor Rudolf II later acquired for a large sum, and was carried by four men to Prague Národní gallery (national gallery) (formerly in the monastery of Strahov) It represents a coronation of the Madonna by two angels The Virgin extends to the Emperor, the Christ Child the Pope Rosaries, as well the holy Dominik and several angels the bystanders In the very tainted by overpainting In Venice, Dürer also painted a few portraits, eg, 1506 Burkhard von Speyer. Although Dürer was highly respected in Venice and the Council of Venice offered him an annual salary of 200 ducats, Would settle permanently in the city, he resigned to his native city A piece of Euclid's elements of mathematics, published in Venice in 1505, bears a monograph by Diirer, in addition to the words: "I bought this book from Venice in 1507 jor Albrecht Diirer (" This book I bought at Venice for a ducat in the 150th year of Albrecht Dürer ")

From 1509 Diirer was envoy of the Greater Council in Nuremberg, and so it can be assumed that he was involved in the planning of artistic projects of the city

During these years Dürer, besides many smaller works in copper engraving and woodcut, published three impressive woodcuts; In these plant complexes, Dürer's mastery of graphic design is particularly evident

At that time Diirer also attempted to scribe copper with the cold needle; St. Veronica of 1510, The Suffering of the Healer and the Atoning Hieronymus, both from 1512. From this time onward, the work of Diirer in woodcut and copper engraving, and we meet rare paintings from his hand

Of the paintings one knows from the year 1512 the picture Maria with the pear cuts In this year, a lot of small engravings falls, which include a third representation of the Passion Also received Dürer a freeze letter from his patron Maximilian Maximilian to the protection of the imitation of his Wood engravings and copper engravings The engravings of Maria on the lawn, the Christ of the sufferers, both needlework, the sacred Hieronymus in the rocky gorge, and the resurrection, continue in 1512 The perspiration of the Veronica, Held by two angels (a very similar motif was created in 1516 as an iron engraving) and in 1514 the bagpipers

Dürer has worked several times on behalf of Emperor Maximilian I. Since 1510/11, there have been connections that Willibald Pirckheimer had mediated. All works were at least indirectly the honor and fame of the Emperor - in addition to Dürer were the artists Hans Burgkmair , Hans Schäufelin and Beck as well as Albrecht Altdorfer, Lucas Cranach and Jörg Breu

A manuscript of a fencing book (Cod HS 26-232) from the year 1512 is kept in the Albertina in Vienna. The cover bears the inscription OPUS ALBERTI DURERI (work of Albrecht Dürers). 200 large format parchment pages contain colored pencil drawings with ringer and fencing scenes , Whether the drawings were intended as a separate work or as a template for a never-executed printed fencing book with wooden cuttings An order of Emperor Maximilian can not be proved, but is close

Other works: illustrations of the hieroglyphs of Horapollon in the translation by Willibald Pirckheimer; The Triumph (Maximilian I and Grand Triumphal Carriage), for which Dürer and his workshop staff Hans Springinklee and Wolf Traut had to deliver the largest and most important part (the inscriptions are due to Johann Neudörffer); The prayer book Maximilian I, which may have been intended for the St George Order

At the same time, his three masterpieces, Knights, Death and the Devil (1513), The Holy Hieronymus in Gehäuse (1514), Melencolia I (1514), and perhaps the originally intended for the Nuremberg Katharinenkirche Munich Pinakothek, the altarpiece of the Nativity with the two founder brothers Paumgartner, known as the Paumgartner altar. In the same year, he also engraved a single dancing couple and danced the four-edged dancers quite vividly. Two months before his death († 1514) he produced a charcoal drawing of his Mother; The first portrait of a dying person Since 1515, Eisenradierungen von Dürer have also been handed over

The years immediately preceding his journey to the Netherlands were marked by an intensive approach to his theoretical work. His book on the subject of painting was not completed because of his death, but in 1525 he published his textbook on geometry and mathematics, followed by the apprenticeship in 1527 Postum And finally, in 1528, his theoretical principal work on the theory of proportion, the "Four Books of Human Proportion", published by his wife Agnes

In 1515 the woodcut Rhinocerus, one of the best known works of Durer, was created

In the summer of 1518 he was a representative of the city of Nuremberg at the Diet in Augsburg, where he immortalized Jakob Fugger and other prominent personalities in the work. The acquaintance with Luther's writings, "which has helped me out of the greatest intimacy", falls into this period

From the 12th of July, 1520, Diirer, with his wife and the maid Susanna, went over Bamberg (bishop George III gave him a painted Madonna, a life of Mary, an apocalypse, and a guilder of copper engravings), Frankfurt, Mainz, Cologne to Antwerp During his stay his central residence, from where he made numerous excursions to other cities A year later, on July 2, 1521, he entered the return journey

The reason for the voyage was above all economic. In January 1519, Diirer's most important patron, Emperor Maximilian I, had died. In 1515, he had awarded the artist an annual guilt of 100 guilders, which the city of Nuremberg was to withdraw from the Reichsteuern With the emperor's death, Nuremberg Council to continue the privilege, and demanded a new confirmation by the successor Maximilian, the later Charles V

The coronation was to be held in Aachen on 20 October and the months before Dürer used it to draw up a broad network of persons from the near and wider surroundings of the throne candidate whom he wanted to win as advocate of his affair Aunt Margaret of Austria (1480-1530) was to be the most important

The confirmation of his pension reached him already at the 12th of November in Cologne and yet Dürer lingered for many more months in the Netherlands. This also certainly depends on the success that came to him during the trip. The journey to the Netherlands was a triumph unequaled and Everywhere the Master was overpowered with respect and admiration, which he accepted with great pleasure; Princes, foreign ambassadors, traders, scholars, such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, and artists took him willingly in their midst. The Antwerp magistrate even offered him in vain an annual salary of 300 Philippsgulden, tax exemption, a beautiful house for gift, free maintenance and also payment of all His public works, in order to persuade him to remain permanently in his city

Of great importance to him were the sight of the Dutch art treasures and the acquaintance with the outstanding artists there. His diary, which had been published during this journey, is contained in the literary papers published by Rupprich. A large number of portraits of clergy, princely persons, artists, Dutch travel

After his return to his fatherhood, Diirer again devoted himself to the artistic activity. In the years 1520/21 he directed the today lost decoration of the Nuremberg town hall, which is handed over in copies of 1530 in Vienna, Albertina, the program for the facade paintings Pirckheimer designed

From the year 1526, the Alte Pinakothek in Munich has two monumental panels, one of the most significant works of the artist: the life-size figures of the four apostles Paul and Peter and the evangelists Mark and Johannes (sidepieces), at the same time the four temperaments ) These plates had originally been donated to the City of Nuremberg by the City of Nuremberg, they were exhibited in the local town hall. The oil painting of Hieronymus Holzschuher in Berlin (Staatliche Museen Prussischer Kulturbesitz) was the best of all the paintings by Diirer's hand Jakob Muffels (also in Berlin) The portrait of Johann Kleeberger, which is located in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, is especially worth mentioning - not least because of its unusual style of presentation. It dates from 1526 and is supposed to be the last painting painted by Albrecht Dürer

In the last few years Dürer devoted himself more to art theory; In doing so, he comes to understand the views of the Italians

Dürer died of sickness ("parched") on April 6, 1528, shortly before his fifty-seventh birthday. Many times it was assumed that Dürer had suffered from malaria since the stay in the Netherlands (especially Schouwen in the province of Zeeland) In 1521 in Antwerp he first noticed with a pronounced symptom which was associated with a strong fever. On an undated sketch in his letter to his doctor, he points to his spleen region and writes: "Do the yellow spot is and with the finger drawff dewt do ("Where the yellow spot is, and where I point my finger, it hurts me.") This could indicate a splenomegaly (splenomegaly), a typical symptom of malaria The residence in The Netherlands Both the climatic conditions during his winter journey as well as his illness history (Dür He had already fever diseases since 1507) and the development after 1520 does not fit into a typical malaria course overall

Until his death, Dürer had been productive, and he was probably working on the preparation for the printing of a theoretical principal to the theory of proportion

Not far from the grave of his friend Willibald Pirckheimer (St Johannis I / 1414), the terrestrial remains of Diirer at the St Johannisfriedhof in Nuremberg rested for a long time under a simple metal plate, erected by Frey for his family and his family, until 1681 Joachim von Sandrart rebuilt the dilapidated grave (St Johannis I / 0649)

Dürer has made a significant contribution to the development of woodcutting and copper engraving. He has freed the woodcut from the "service of the book illustration" and given it the rank of a separate work of art, which could be placed side by side with the painted picture Dürer created by refining the lines and An extension of the artistic vocabulary a richer tonality or finer color gradations and led the woodcut so formally in the proximity of the copper engraving

Like the woodcut, Dürer also perfected and revolutionized the techniques of copper engraving. Through the leaves such as knight, death and devil, and Melencolia I, he was known throughout Europe. Like Tizian, Michelangelo and Raphael, Dürer has seen the importance of the print graphics in his own artistic To spread the reputation and to gain revenue through the distribution. Dürer made the woodcut itself a work of art. In this context, one speaks of reproductive graphics and original artwork. Dürer has published his prints in his own publishing house, Buchhandel Vertrieben The distribution of prints was the result of the fact that new artistic developments spread quickly and evenly throughout Europe
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