The great German artist Albrecht Durer left neither posterity nor students. His legacy is outstanding works of art, innovative achievements, theoretical works. He is an example of an extraordinary personality and a handsome man. Even in adulthood and sick, he looked, if not perfect, then still a very attractive person.
Albrecht Durer's parents
The artist's future father came to Germany from the small Hungarian village of Eitas in 1455. He decided to settle in the progressive, business and wealthy city of Germany at that time - Nuremberg, which was part of Bavaria.
In 1467, when he was already about 40 years old, he married the young daughter of goldsmith Jerome Holper. At that time, Barbara was only 15.
Their brilliant son was born in Nuremberg on May 21, 1471 and was the third child in the family. In total, Barbara Durer gave birth to 18 children during her marriage. Albrecht was lucky - he was one of the three boys who lived to adulthood. He did not have his own children at all, as did his two brothers, Endres and Hans.
The father of the future artist worked as a jeweler. His name was also Albrecht Durer (1427–1502). The mother did housework, attended church diligently, gave birth a lot, and was often sick. Some time after the death of her father, Barbara Durer moved to live with Albrecht the Younger. She helped in the implementation of her son's work. She died in his house on May 17, 1514 at the age of 63. Dürer respectfully spoke of his parents as great workers and pious people.
The creative and life path of Albrecht Durer
Albrecht Durer is the largest painter and consummate engraver not only in Germany, but also in the entire Western European art of the Renaissance in Northern Europe. He possessed a unique technique of copper engraving.
What was the path that led Dürer to such high recognition?
The father wanted his son to continue his work and become a jeweler. From the age of eleven, Dürer the Younger studied in his father's workshop, but the boy was attracted to painting. As a thirteen-year-old teenager, he created his first self-portrait using a silver pencil. The technique of working with such a pencil is very difficult. The lines he drew cannot be corrected. Dürer was proud of this work and later wrote: “I painted myself in a mirror in 1484, when I was still a child. Albrecht Durer . Moreover, he made the inscription in a mirror image.
Dürer the Elder had to yield to the interests of his son. At the age of fifteen, the young man, under an agreement between his father and hereditary Nuremberg artist Mikael Wolgemut, entered his workshop. Under Wolgemuth, he studied both painting and wood engraving, helped to create stained glass windows and altar images. After completing his studies, Dürer went on a journey as an apprentice to get acquainted with the experience of masters from other regions, improve his skills and broaden his horizons. The trip lasted from 1490 to 1494 - in his so-called "wonderful years" of the formation of a young artist. During this time, he visited cities such as Strasbourg, Colmar and Basel.
He is looking for his own artistic style. Since the mid-1490s, Albrecht Durer has designated his works with the initials "AD".
He improved the technique of engraving on copper in Colmar with three brothers of the famous master Martin Schongauer. He himself was no longer alive. Then Dürer moved to the fourth brother of Schongauer in Basel - one of the then centers of book printing.
In 1493, during his student journey, Dürer the Younger created another self-portrait, this time painted in oil, and sent it to Nuremberg. He portrayed himself with a thistle in his hand. According to one version, this plant symbolized faithfulness to Christ, according to another, male faithfulness. Perhaps with this portrait he presented himself to his future wife and made it clear that he would be a faithful husband. Some art historians believe that this portrait was a gift to the bride.
Self-portrait with a thistle, 1493 Dürer is 22 years old.
After that, Albrecht returned to Nuremberg to get married. The father arranged the marriage with the daughter of a wealthy local merchant. On July 7, 1494, the wedding of Albrecht Durer and Agnes Frey took place.
Some time after the marriage, another trip followed on a more distant route. This time across the Alps to Venice and Padua. There he gets acquainted with the work of outstanding Italian artists. Makes copies from engravings by Andrea Mantegna and Antonio Pollaiolo. Also, Albrecht is impressed by the fact that in Italy artists are no longer considered simple artisans, but have a higher status in society.
In 1495, Durer embarks on the return journey. On the way, he paints landscapes in watercolors.
Returning home from Italy, he can finally afford to have his own workshop.
For the next several years, his painting style reflected the influence of Italian painters. In 1504 he painted the painting The Adoration of the Magi. This painting is today considered one of the most outstanding paintings by Albrecht Durer from the period 1494 - 1505.
From 1505 to mid-1507, he once again visited Italy. Visited Bologna, Rome and Venice.
In 1509, Albrecht Durer purchased a large house in Nuremberg and spent almost twenty years of his life in it.
In July 1520, the artist travels to the Netherlands, taking his wife Agnes with him. He visits the old centers of Dutch painting - Bruges, Brussels, Ghent. Everywhere he makes architectural sketches, as well as sketches of people and animals. He meets with other artists, gets acquainted with the greatest scientist Erasmus of Rotterdam. Dürer has long been famous and is received everywhere with respect and honor.
In Aachen, he witnesses the coronation of Emperor Charles V. Later he meets with him in order to renew the privileges previously received from the previous emperor Maximilian I, whose orders he carried out.
Unfortunately, during a Dutch trip, Dürer contracted an "amazing disease", presumably malaria. He is tormented by seizures and one day he sends a doctor a drawing with his image, where he points with his finger to a painful place. The figure was accompanied by an explanation.
Engravings by Albrecht Durer
Among his contemporaries, Albrecht Durer makes a name for himself primarily by creating engravings. His virtuoso works are distinguished by their large size, delicate and precise drawing, grasping of characters, and complex composition. Dürer perfectly mastered the technique of engraving both on wood and on copper. From beginning to end, the master performs all the work on the creation of engravings himself, incl. carvings with unparalleled detail and fine lines. At the same time, he uses tools made according to his own drawings. He makes numerous prints, which are widely circulated throughout Europe. So he became the publisher of his works. His prints were widely known, very popular and sold well. Significantly strengthened his prestige series of engravings "Apocalypse" published in 1498.
Dürer's masterpieces are recognized as "Workshops of engravings": in 1513 he carved an engraving on copper "Knight, Death and the Devil", and in 1514 as many as two: "St. Jerome in a Cell" and "Melancholy".
Perhaps the most famous image of a rhinoceros is the so-called "Durer's Rhino", created in 1515. He himself did not see this animal, outlandish for Germany. The artist imagined his appearance from descriptions and other people's drawings.
Albrecht Durer's magic square
In 1514, as indicated above, the master created the engraving "Melancholy" - one of his most mysterious works. The image is filled with a mass of symbolic details that still give room for interpretation.
In the upper right corner, Dürer carved a square with numbers. Its peculiarity is that if you add the numbers in any direction, then the amounts received will always be 34. The same figure is obtained by counting the numbers in each of the four quarters; in the middle quadrangle and when adding numbers from cells in the corners of the large square. And in the two central cells of the bottom row, the artist wrote the year of the engraving creation - 1514.
Drawings and watercolors by Dürer
In one of his early landscape watercolors, Dürer depicted a mill and a drawing workshop on the banks of the Pegnitz River, in which copper wire was made. Beyond the river are villages in the vicinity of Nuremberg, in the distance the mountains turn blue.
One of the most famous drawings "Young Hare" was drawn in 1502. The artist marked the date of its creation and put his initials "AD" right under the image of the animal.
In 1508, he drew his own hands, folded in prayer, in white on blue paper. This image is still the most frequently replicated and even translated into a sculptural version.
According to experts, more than 900 drawings by Albrecht Durer have been preserved to this day.
Dürer, proportion and nudity
Dürer is carried away by the desire to find the ideal proportions of the human figure. He carefully examines the naked bodies of people. In 1504 he creates an outstanding copper engraving "Adam and Eve". To depict Adam, the artist takes as a model the pose and proportions of the marble statue of Apollo Belvedere. This antique statue was found at the end of the 15th century in Rome. The idealization of proportions distinguishes Dürer's work from the then accepted medieval canons. In the future, he still preferred to depict real forms in their variety.
In 1507 he wrote a picturesque diptych on the same theme.
He became the first German artist to depict naked people. In the Weimar Castle, there is a portrait of Dürer, in which he portrayed himself as frankly as possible completely naked.
Self-portraits
Albrecht Durer painted self-portraits from boyhood to old age. Each of them has its own flavor, and often innovation. The self-portrait, which shocked the contemporary artist's public, was painted in 1500. On it, 28-year-old Albrecht appears in a bold image, because he resembles the image of Christ himself.
In addition, the portrait was painted in full face. At that time, this position was used to write images of saints, and secular portraits in Northern Europe were created in a three-quarter turn of the model. Also in this portrait can be traced the artist's ongoing search for ideal proportions.
Death and memory of Albrecht Durer
The artist died in his Nuremberg house on April 6, 1528, not having lived a month and a half before his 57th birthday. His departure was a huge loss not only for Germany, Albrecht Durer was mourned by all the great minds of Europe at that time.
He was buried in the Nuremberg cemetery of St. John. A friend of his whole life, the German humanist Willibald Pirkheimer wrote for the tombstone: "Under this hill rests what was mortal in Albrecht Durer."
The Albrecht-Dürer-Haus Museum has been operating in the Dürer house since 1828.
In his hometown, on the Albrecht Durer Platz square, a monument to the great compatriot was erected.
The reliquary of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts contains a lock of Dürer's hair.
The era of Albrecht Durer
Albrecht Dürer is an outstanding German artist of extraordinary talent, graphic artist, printmaker, draftsman, humanist, scientist and art theorist. His versatile creative thought covers a wide field of research: he studied architecture, mathematics, mechanics, sculpture, music, literature, studied the construction and construction of defensive fortifications.
In his last years, this outstanding creator wrote more about art than created new works. His last oil painting is Four Apostles (or Four Saints). It was completed in 1526 and presented by Dürer as a gift to the Council of the City of Nuremberg.
He created and preserved an extensive literary archive: autobiographical notes, letters, "Travel Diary to the Netherlands". Treatises belong to Peru and Dürer's thoughts: 1525 - "Guide to Measurement", 1527 - "Instructions for Strengthening Cities", 1528 - "Four Books on Proportions".
The virtual museum of Durer's prints at the Pushkin Museum. Pushkin
In the collection of the Pushkin Museum. Pushkin contains 215 sheets with prints of prints by Durer. They can be seen on the specially created website "German Engraving".
