Albrecht Durer
Biography and Paintings of German Northern Renaissance Artist and Printmaker
Visual Arts Guide

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)

The German Albrecht Durer, along with Jan Van Eyck (c.1395-1441) and Roger Van der Weyden (1400-1464), was one of the greatest Northern Renaissance artists. He was an early pioneer of many fine arts media, including drawing, painting, engraving, and other forms of printmaking. Along with Rembrandt and Goya he is seen as a supreme master of print, and is best known for his woodcut prints including the Apocalypse series, 1498, Passion cycle, c.1497-1500 and the Life of the Virgin, 1500. His huge body of life works includes religious works, portraits, copper engravings, woodcuts, books, math manuals and theological writings. Born in Nuremberg, the son of a successful goldsmith who had immigrated from and married the daughter of a prosperous Nuremberg family, Durer grew up in a family of somewhere between 14 and 17 siblings. Albrecht's godfather, Anton Koberger was an established publisher who went on to own 24 printing presses and had offices in Germany and abroad. His most famous journal was the Nuremberg Chronicle which was published in 1493 and had hundreds of woodcut illustrations. It is thought that the young Durer may have designed some of these prints.

Durer became famous in his own time as early as his mid-twenties, and as a result, his background is well documented. He initially trained as a goldsmith with his father, but his talent for figure drawing was soon recognised and he switched at the age of 15 to apprentice with the German painter Michael Wolgemut. A self-portrait drawing from this time still exists. Wolgemut had a large workshop which produced, in particular, woodcuts for books and this was the area Durer trained in. Gradually he was to revolutionize printmaking by elevating it to an art form and expanding the tonal and imagery capacity of the art.

In 1489 Durer completed his apprenticeship and took a gap year out to travel - which turned into 4 years as he travelled through Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

On his return in 1494, when he was 23, he married the daughter of a local prominent brass worker. It may have been an arranged marriage, his portraits of her lack any warmth and they never had any children. By the age of 30, Durer had completed most of his three most famous woodcuts (Apocalypse, Passion Cycle and Life of the Virgin). He went on to produce other prints such as Adam and Eve, 1504, Death and the Devil, 1513, and Melencolia I, 1514. The 5 years beween 1507 and 1511 were the main painting years of his life. He produced several masterpieces during this time including Adam and Eve, 1507, Virgin with the Iris, 1508, the altarpiece Assumption of the Virgin, 1509 and Adoration of the Trinity by all the Saints, 1511. During the same period, Durer mastered the use of the burin to make engravings and produced notable engravings such as the Nemesis, 1502, The Sea Monster, 1498 and Saint Eustace, c.1501.

Durer had a great love of Italy, and visited the country twice, once in 1494 and again in 1505. He used his time to study the works of the great Italian Early Renaissance painters and the influence of Venetian design and colour can be seen in his altarpiece Feast of the Rose Garlands, 1506 (Národní Galerie, Prague). Theoretical discussions of Renaissance art intrigued and inspired him to write 'Four Books of Human Proportion' of which only one was published during his lifetime, 1528. He also wrote an introduction to geometric theory, 1525 which included the first scientific discussion of perspective by a Northern European artist.

Between 1511 and 1514 he switched his focus from fine art painting to wood prints, as he complained that paintings did not earn enough money to justify the time spent. It is unlikely that Durer made any of the wood blocks for his prints himself, this would probably have been left to a skilled woodcutter. Durer either drew his design directly onto the block or glued a paper drawing onto the block for the craftsman to use.

Durer's intellect and ambition earned him the attention of the most prominent people in German society, and he became official court artist to Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian I and his successor Charles V. He was allocated several public projects including panels of the Four Apostles for Nuremberg's town hall, 1526 (now at the Alte Pinakothek, Munich). Durer often made detailed preparatory sketches for works, and many of these are in collections around the world today.

In 1520 he made his last major voyage when he went to the Netherlands to secure patronage on the death of Maximilian I. He took a large stock of prints with him, and kept accurate records on who he sold the prints to and for how much. Such detailed documentation from this time is rare. In July of 1521 he decided to return home, after catching an undetermined illness which was to afflict him and the rate of his work for the rest of his life.

In the last few years of his life, Durer's attention shifted to writing so he produced relatively few art works. The only paintings he created were: a Portrait of Hieronymus Holtzschuher, Madonna and Child (1526), Salvator Mundi, 1526, and 2 panels showing St. John with St. Peter. He also produced a few engravings and sketches. Durer died in Nuremberg in 1528 at the relatively young age of 56. His primary legacy was in the area of printmaking, and he went on to inspire other artists in this area including Titian, Raphael and Parmigianino. Durer remains one of the most creative innovators in the history of art.

...For a short biography of one of the greatest painters and sculptors of the Italian High Renaissance, see Michelangelo.

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