Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)
Albrecht Durer was the most important Northern Renaissance (cultural movement of Renaissance occurring North of the Alps, while the original Renaissance started in Italy) artist. He was a painter, an engraver, a printer, and a woodcutter. Most people are familiar with at least some of his works, although they can’t attribute them properly. The next painting, for instance, is only one of his works and it is worth about one hundred million euros.
To improve the overall level of education in the field of art I decided to provide a few of the most interesting facts about Albrecht Durer, his life, and his works:
1. His was of Hungarian origin. His family name was Thurer (with an umlaut on u).
2. He was born as the third child in a large family of fourteen or even eighteen (we don’t have clear evidence) in Nuremberg, one of the largest and most technologically advanced cities in the Holy Roman Empire. He had a brother named Hans, who became a famous artist too.
3. His father (named Albrecht as well) father was a goldsmith. Together with Michael Wolgemut, he was young Albrecht’s first teacher.
4. Most of the historical works mention his travel to Italy in 1495 as the turning point in his career. Latest discoveries show he made only to the border and he learned about Renaissance from copies of Italian masters which were already available in Nuremberg. He had probably left the city because of the plague.
5. Albrecht Durer was known for his attention to detail. His picture of a rhinoceros (woodcut) was used in school textbooks in Germany until 1939.
6. Durer designed one of the first logos in history. His initials AD (seen under the title of the picture above) can be considered as the beginning of branding and copyright.
7. He is considered the first author of a self-portrait. He made at thirteen years of age to show his skills and he did it in one of the most demanding techniques, in silverpoint drawing technique:
He made several self-portraits before he died. He used a mirror (these became much more affordable in his lifetime) and in some cases very showy materials, including extremely expensive pigments such as crimson red, lapis lazuli, and golden powder. He never sold any of them, but they were successfully used as examples to attract customers. Durer had many rich customers and became internationally known way before the end of his life.
But his most famous work today is not a painting, it is an engraving with the enigmatic title Melencolia I. This engraving is a portrait of an angel among many mathematical and mystical symbols. It has been a subject of numerous interpretations and speculations but the majority of experts now explain it as a kind of symbolical self-portrait.
8. Albrecht Durer wrote several books about art and anatomy which he obsessively studied for many years.
9. He invented many tools to produce more realistic effects on works. For instance, he made a brush of guinea pig hair for the finest details as flower petals of human curls.
10. His private life is a bit of a mystery. It is known he was a frequent visitor to brothels before and probably after marriage. He was the first who paint naked prostitutes and a detailed picture of a scrotum. Now historians believe he died of syphilis, not from malaria which was next to impossible to contract during winter when his problems with health first occurred. We’ll probably never know the complete truth about Albrecht Durer, but these facts should be enough for now.