Albrecht Dürer
Northern Renaissance
Northern Renaissance
The Renaissance began in Italy
in the late 1400s. The ideas and
styles of Michelangelo, Davinci,
Raphael, and other great Italian
artists started to spread around
Northern Europe in the early
1500s. The Northern
Renaissance then lasted until
about 1615.
The art of the Northern
Renaissance focused very
much on daily life and nature
rather than on religious
subjects.
The artists of this time worked
hard to reflect very precise
observation. The artists tried to
paint exactly what they saw and
used a lot of details in their
paintings.
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was one of the most
important Northern Renaissance
artists.
He was born in Germany in 1471
and died in 1528 (almost 500 years
ago).
He left thousands of watercolors and
drawings and is considered the
greatest printmaker ever.
He also wrote the first book of
mathematics in German and was
interested in the application of math
to the arts.
The Two Musicians
The Young Dürer
Dürer’s father was a goldsmith,
which is an artisan who works with
gold and other precious metals. He
taught Albrecht to draw and to work
on metal.
At 15, Albrecht became an apprentice
to a famous German artist and he
learned to carve wood. Later he went
to Northern Europe and to Italy to
study art.
Albrecht drew this picture of himself
when he was 13 years old.
He used a mirror to see himself.
Do you like it? Why or why not?
Dürer’s Self-portraits
Dürer was one of the first artists to paint many self-portraits
(pictures of himself). He made at least 12 self-portraits. Here are
3 of his self-portraits at age 22, 26, and 28 years old. Why do
you think he wanted to paint himself? What is different or
similar in each painting? Can you see the landscape in the
background on the second portrait? Dürer was one of the first
European artists to introduce landscape in his works.
Because the camera did not exist at that time, portraits were very popular
among important people. Sometimes Dürer would be paid to draw a portrait,
or sometimes he would send it as a gift to an important person such as the
Cardinal of Brandenburg (left) or Frederick the Wise (right).
Animals in Dürer’s Art
Dürer was one of the first
artists to view animals as a
subject for art.
This is one of his most
famous watercolor paintings.
What are some of the details
in this painting?
Can you see the little
inscription/symbol at the
bottom? That was Dürer’s
distinctive monogram.
A Young Hare
Rhinoceros drawing
Rhinoceros woodcut
A rhinoceros arrived in Portugal from the Far East in 1514 and
was not seen in Europe since the Roman times. Dürer created
first a drawing and then a woodcut from a description and
sketch of an unknown artist. He never saw the live animal. Does
this look like a real rhinoceros? Why or why not? It is possible
that this was an extinct rhinoceros or that armor was put on the
animal. What do you think?
Dürer’s Drawings
Dürer engraved many
pictures that illustrated
stories and symbols of
Christianity. Because
most people were
illiterate (did not know
how to read and write),
the paintings of the time
served as a way to teach
people about religion.
The stories reproduced
in the pictures had many
details. It takes a careful
eye to “spy” everything
that is in the picture.
Angels Restraining
the Four Winds
Notice Durer’s
emphasis on
texture.
Everything is so
detailed. It looks
like you could
touch the
artwork and it
would be
textured.
Art Response
• Make animal drawings using pencil and
eventually sharpie markers
• Draw more than one animal
• Use a 14 x 17 piece of drawing paper
• Find images from the internet as a reference
point
• Emphasize the texture of the animal
• Fill the entire page
• You will learn the “gridding” technique to do
your animal drawings
• What is “gridding?”