Albrecht Durer

Albrecht Durer was an innovative German artist from the 15th and 16th century

Durer was a highly talented individual who put his creative skills into several different art mediums, most notably painting and engraving. The most famous art works to have come from the career of Albrecht Durer include Knight, Death, and the Devil, Saint Jerome in his Study, Melancholia, Rhinoceros and Hare.

This website looks deep into the career of Albrecht Durer, far beyond just these well known works and also disucsses his life in general too. There are also specific sections on his drawings and woodcuts. Praying Hands is perhaps his most famous drawing. German art to a certain degree followed in the footsteps of Italian art during this period shortly after the Middle Ages and it was rare for someone from outside of Italy to produce work that was so fundamentally important to the development of European art styles.

It was only later that Germany consistently produced international artists of note, with the likes of Hans Holbein and Franz Marc, to name just two. Franz Marc came at the start of the 20th century, some 400 years after the impact of Durer had been first felt. Albrecht Durer is probably regarded as one of, if not the, most skillful etcher in history and you will find many images of this type of art medium within this website, as they take up a large percentage of his best works.

Melancholia is the best of his etchings and has received huge amounts of discussion and research in order to decide upon the possible symbolism and beliefs of the artist which are displayed within the art work. You can also find Albrecht Durer paintings here. Etchings were a very popular method of art during the period in which Durer was around, but in recent years there have been less and less take up of this demanding medium, in part due to the fact that colour is now so important for most modern artists, and this type of woodblock etchings doesn't offer the same flexibility as something like oil on canvas.

In the rest of the years to 1520, he created an extensive variety of works. Gum based paint on cloth(Tamera) representations in 1516. Inscriptions on many subjects explore in scratching on plates of both zinc and iron. A piece of the Triumphal Gate and the Triumphal March of Emperor Maximilian. He additionally did the external adornments for the Emperor's supplication book and a representation drawing of the Emperor in no time before his passing in 1519.

The result was that in the most recent years of his life he delivered, as a craftsman, similarly little. Through painting there was a representation of Hieronymus Holtzschuher, two boards indicating St. John and an outstanding St. Subside in front and St. Paul with St. mark out of sight. In copper-etching, Durer's created just various pictures, those of the cardinal-balloter of Mainz (The Great Cardinal), Erasmus Frederick the Wise and his companions the humanist researcher Willibald Pirckheimer, voter of Saxony, and Melanchthon.

Despite this, there is still a significant following across the world for traditional etchings, and Durer is certainly at the forefront of that.

Famous Artists from Northern Europe

Durer was a significant name within Northern European art and was joined in this bracket by other names from the Netherlands (or Netherlandish) and Germany. These included Hieronymus Bosch, Rembrandt van Rijn, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Jan Vermeer and Jan van Eyck.

The Dutch Golden Age remains one of the most respected periods of European art and helped to push things ever onwards towards the modern art movements that we have today.

Durer's own significance within this group of artists is partly down to the variety of mediums and techniques that he used, covering engravings, woodcut etchings, drawings and paintings.

Famous Renaissance and Baroque Artists from around Europe

The original inspirations for the Renaissance movement would come from Italy, before moving onto the rest of Europe. The key names involved during this period included Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Sandro Botticello and Caravaggio.

Those further north would study and appreciate the techniques used by these masters and would add their own qualities to create the northern period of the Renaissance. A similar impact would be seen in the UK, Spain and France too.

The achievements of the Renaissance and Baroque artists would then lead on to all that followed with impressionism, romanticism and 20th century art movements. The key influence from these famous names of centuries ago continues to be celebrated by art academics today.

Iris

Iris is a delicate painting which beautifully captures the qualities of the pretty iris flower, which has also been covered by many other artists over the years. Most famously Van Gogh irises covered the natural French landscape where as this is a carefully planned still life work which has few obvious comparisons within the rest of his career.

Whilst Van Gogh's version was bold and aggressive with colour, Durer used a far more subtle approach which matches the styles commonly seen at that time, where detail was considered more important than colour.

When considering the impact that Albrecht Durer's career had on European art it is unsurprising to learn that reproductions of his original etchings and paintings remain massively popular right around the world, and the art that you find within this website are his most popular of all.

Most artists who were around at this time have been subject to considerable quesion marks when trying to correctly attribute work to them, but fortunately there is not as much controversy surrounding this artist, so the boundaries of his work is much clearer.

Apocalypse the Four Horsemen

Apocalypse of the Four Horsemen is another classic piece from Albrecht Durer and well worth a closer look. The Apocalypse of the Four Horsemen etching is incredibly detailed and would have taken an artist even as skilled as Durer a considerable amount of time to produce such a piece.

If you want to see more of his etchings besides those listed in this website, please use the links provided which will take you through to the Art.com Durer gallery which has many more to enjoy.

Albrecht Durer can be considered as the leading light within the Northern Renaissance and helped to encourage it's development in many different areas that had not been previously covered such as with his extraordinary portraits and self-portraits.

Durer was also a mathmetician and printmaker though most of his art benefitted from his basic drawing skills which are generally an important foundation to so many other art movements which add extra artistic layers on top. See also his animal drawings.

Minster at Aachen

Minster at Aachen is one of the best examples of Durer's fine drawing skills and is a detailed depiction of this well known building which was local to where he was living at that time. Durer was not some who remained in the same place for too long, though, and would journey around the German Empire as it was then plus Italy too in order to discover as many new ideas as possible to ensure his art was truly enlightened and cutting edge.

The original etchings and paintings from Albrecht Durer have become exceedingly popular in recent years right acros Europe and North America, with his repuation as a skilled and influential artist remaining strong. As a result there are regular reproductions purchased as copies of original Albrecht Durer art, with great interest in both prints of his detailed etchings and original paintings alike. There are also Albrecht Durer prints here.

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