Saturday 27 December 2014

Albrecht Dürer - part 1

1484 Self-Portrait at the age of 13 
silverpoint on paper 27.5 x 19.6 cm 
Albertina, Vienna

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was a German painter, engraver, printmaker, mathematician and theorist. Born in Nuremberg in 1471, Duurer was apprenticed to his father, a goldsmith, and to Michael Wolgemut, whose workshop produced woodcut illustrations for publications. Dürer revolutionised printmaking, elevating it to an independent art form. His high quality woodcuts established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he is regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance. His vast body of works include altarpieces and other religious works, numerous portraits and self-portraits, and copper engravings.

By the age of thirty Dürer had completed or begun three of his most famous series of woodcuts on religious subjects: The Large Passion cycle (c1497-1500), The Apocalypse (1497-98), The Life of the Virgin (1500-11).

Dürer visited Italy twice - from 1494 to 1495, and again from 1505 to 1507, seeing first-hand some of the great works of the Italian Renaissance, as well as the classical heritage and theoretical writings of the region. The influence of Venetian colour and design can be seen in the 1506 altarpiece Feast of Rose Garlands, commissioned from Dürer by a German colony of merchants living in Venice.


1506 Feast of the Rose Garlands 
oil on polar panel 162 x 194.5 cm 
Národní Galerie, Prague

Dürer developed an interest in the human form, demonstrated by his antique and nude studies. He wrote Four Books of Human Proportion, only the first of which was published in his lifetime. His talent, ambition and wide-ranging intellect earned him the attention and friendship of some of the most prominent figures in German society. He became official court artist to Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian I and his successor Charles V, for whom he designed and helped execute a range of artistic projects.


1519 Emperor Maximilian I 
tempera on canvas 83 x 65 cm 
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

1521 Medal of Charles V 
designed by Albrecht Dürer, silver

Dürer exerted a huge influence on the artists of succeeding generations, especially in printmaking, the medium through which his contemporaries mostly experienced his art, as his paintings were predominately held in private collections. His success in spreading his reputation across Europe through his prints was undoubtedly an inspiration for major artists such as Raphael, Titian, and Parmigianino, all of whom collaborated with printmakers to promote and distribute their work. Dürer died in 1528.

This is part 1 of a 9-part post on the works of Albrecht Dürer:

1485-1528 Knight on Horseback and Landsknecht 
pen and brown ink, touches of brush and brown wash 30 x 28 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1486c Albrech Dürer the Elder 
silverpoint 28 x 21 cm 
Albertina, Vienna, Austria

1489-90 Alpine Road 
watercolour and gouache on parchment 
Albertina, Vienna, Austria

1489c St John's Church 
watercolour and gouache on paper 29 x 42 cm 
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia

1489c The Wire-drawing Mill 
watercolour and gouache on paper 28.6 x 42.6 cm 
Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany

1490 Alliance Coat of Arms of the Dürer and Holper Families 
oil on panel 47 x 39 cm 
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy

1490 Portrait of Barbara Dürer 
oil on pine panel 47 x 38 cm 
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany

1490 Portrait of Dürer's Father 
oil on panel 48 x 40 cm 
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy

1490 St. Ambrose 
woodcut 18.4 x 13.8 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1490-1528 St. Catherine of Alexandria 
pen and brown ink 16.5 x 7.5 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1493 Female Nude 
pen and ink on paper 27.2 x 14.7 cm 
Musée Bonnat, Bayonne, France

1493 Illustration from the Ritter von Turn 
woodcut 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1493 Illustration from the Ritter von Turn 
woodcut 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1493c Christ as the Man of Sorrows 
oil on panel 23 x 17 cm 
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany

1494 Bacchanal with Silenus ( after Mantegna *see below ) 
pen and brown ink 29.8 x 43.3 cm 
Albertina, Vienna, Austria

before 1481 Bacchanal with Silenus by Andrea Mantegna 
burin and drypoint 27.9 x 41.7 cm

1494 Battle of the Sea-Gods ( after Mantegna *see below ) 
pen and ink 28.9 x 38.1 cm 
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria

1493c Andrea Mantegna "Battle of the Sea-Gods" 
engraving 29.4 x 39.1 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1494 Courtyard of the Former Castle in Innsbruck without Clouds 
watercolour on paper 33.5 x 26.7 cm 
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria

1494 Death of Orpheus 
pen 28.p x 22.5 cm 
Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

1494 Lion 
Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

1494 Mein Agnes ( Durer's wife Agnes Frey ) 
pen in bistre on paper 15.6 x 9.8 cm 
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria

1494 View of Trento 
watercolour and gouache on paper 23.8 x 35.6 cm 
Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany

1494-94 Studies of Dürer's Left Hand 
pen and ink 27 x 18 cm 
Albertina, Vienna, Austria

1494-95 Recumbent Lion 
brush and brown ink over feint black chalk with touches of pink watercolour and blue blck pigment on laid paper 12.5 x 17.7 cm 
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan

1494-98 The Penance of St. John Chrysostom 
engraving 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1494-98c The Monstrous Pig of Landser 
engraving 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1494c Innsbruck seen fron the North 
watercolour on paper 13 x 19 cm 
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria

1494c The Ravisher 
engraving 11.4 x 10.1 cm ( sheet ) 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1495 Abduction of a Woman 
pen and ink 28.3 x 42.3 cm 
Musée Bonnat, Bayonne, France

1495 Crab 
watercolour and gouache 26.3 x 31.2 cm 
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands

1495 Female Nude from Behind 
brush on paper 32 x 21 cm 
Musée du Louvre, Paris

1495 Landscape near Segonzano in the Cembra Valley 
watercolour 21 x 31.2 cm 
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK

1495 Lobster 
pen on paper 24.6 x 42.8 cm 
Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany

1495 St Jerome in the Wilderness 
oil on panel 23 x 17 cm 
National Gallery, London

1495 Study of the Christ Child 
pen and black ink, heightened with white pen 17.2 x 21.5 cm 
Musée du Louvre, Paris

1495 The Castle at Trento 
watercolour on paper 19.8 x 25.7 cm 
British Museum, London

1495 The Holy Family with a Dragonfly 
engraving 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1495 The Ill-Assorted Couple 
engraving 14.9 x 13.8 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1495 View of Arco 
watercolour and gouache on paper 22.1 x 22.1 cm 
Musée du Louvre, Paris

1495 View of Innsbruck 
watercolour on paper 12.7 x 18.7 cm 
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria

1495-46 The Small Fortune 
engraving 12 x 6.6 cm 
British Musem, London

1495-47 Pine 
watercolour and gouache on paper 29.5 x 19.6 cm 
British Museum, London

1495c Five Lansquenets and an Oriental on Horseback 
engraving on white laid paper 13.2 x 14.5 cm 
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1495c Iris 
watercolour and body colour on paper 77 x 31 cm 
Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany

1495c The Great Courier 
engraving 10 x 11.3 cm 
Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden, Germany

1495c Virgin and Child before an Archway 
oil on panel 48 x 36 cm 
Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Mamiano di Traversetolo, Italy

1496 Hercules and Cacus 
woodcut 39.2 x 28.3 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1496 Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand 
woodcut 39.1 x 28.4 cm ( image ) 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1496 Portrait of Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony 
tempera on canvas 76 x 57 cm 
Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany

1496 The Cook and His Wife 
engraving 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1496 The Dresden Altarpiece
oil on canvas 114 x 45 cm ( outer panels ) 117 x 96.5 cm ( centre panel )
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, Germany

1496 The Dresden Altarpiece 
centre panel
oil on canvas 117 x 96.5 cm

1496 The Dresden Altarpiece 
outer panel
oil on canvas 114 x 45 cm 

1496 The Dresden Altarpiece 
outer panel
oil on canvas 114 x 45 cm 

1496 The Little Courier 
engraving 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1496 The Women's Bath 
pen and ink 23.1 x 22.6 cm 
Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany

1496-97 Nuremberg and Venetian Women 
pen and ink on paper 24.1 x 16 cm 
Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, Germany

1496-97 View of Nuremberg 
watercolour and gouache 16.3 x 34.4 cm 
Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany