Art

Albrecht Durer

urer was born in Nuremberg in 1471 , where he was trained in his father's goldsmith's workshop. He paid two long visits to Venice. Italy, in his Youth, after which he spent 7 years working for Emperor Maximilian I of Nuremberg (often receiving a fixed annual salary of 100 guilders).His earliest work was a self-portrait painted when he was 13 years old. He later moved from Germany to Italy, where his popularity grew. There he exchanged works and ideas with Italian painter Raphael and later traveled Antwerp, where he encountered Northern European artist Grunewald. Durer also used a unique signature for those works which he found worthy of his name.

Durer had a strong interest for detail in his works, and through his good draughtsmanship excelled at painting super-realistically. Like Leonardo da Vinci, he was fascinated by geometry and mathematics, believing both to be correct foundations of all art. Durer even wrote an essay regarding the design of military fortifications. Today Durer is seen as the greatest German Renaissance artist. He excelled in realistic yet often symbolic drawings, ones such as his portrait of his mother and Knight, Death and the Devil. He was a highly prolific painter, drawer, engraver and woodcut-designer, appreciating graphic art. In his lifetime he completed some 2000 drawings, over 250 woodcuts and 100 engravings. He died in 1528 at age 57.