Albrecht Durer

Northern Renaissance

German 1471-1528

• Durer was the leader of the German High Renaissance.

• Durer was an admirer of the Italian Renaissance and was one of the first artist to travel to Italy expressly to study Italian art.

• Durer was the first artist to paint a self-portrait.

• He painted a series of self-portraits over his career to document his life.

• Durer also signed and dated his artwork which was unusual at the time.

• Durer believed that sight was our greatest sense and through looking, truth is revealed.

• Durer was a master of oil paint and watercolor. Watercolor at the time was used mainly for preliminary sketches that were often discarded.

• Durer had a great love for animals and often used them in his art work.

• While Durer was a great painter, he is more well known for his printmaking.

• He was one of the first artist of the Western world to use woodcut as a major medium.

• Durer’s woodcuts were very well crafted with very fine lines which give the appearance of being a pen and ink drawing.

• Durer also worked with copper engravings.

• Because many prints can be made of the same image, Durer was able to sell them at more modest prices than his paintings.

• This allowed him to become a wealthy artist and honored citizen in his home town of Nuremberg.

• Many of Durer’s prints deal with religious stories.

• Durer’s most famous prints came from a series illustrating the Apocalypse, The Book of Revelation in the Bible.