Albrecht Durer
Northern Renaissance
German 1471-1528
• Durer was the leader
of the German High
Renaissance.
• Durer was an admirer
of the Italian
Renaissance and was
one of the first artist to
travel to Italy
expressly to study
Italian art.
• Durer was the first
artist to paint a selfportrait.
• He painted a series of
self-portraits over his
career to document his
life.
• Durer also signed and
dated his artwork
which was unusual at
the time.
• Durer believed that
sight was our greatest
sense and through
looking, truth is
revealed.
• Durer was a master of
oil paint and watercolor.
Watercolor at the time
was used mainly for
preliminary sketches
that were often
discarded.
• Durer had a great love
for animals and often
used them in his art
work.
• While Durer was a great
painter, he is more well
known for his
printmaking.
• He was one of the first
artist of the Western
world to use woodcut as
a major medium.
• Durer’s woodcuts were
very well crafted with
very fine lines which
give the appearance of
being a pen and ink
drawing.
• Durer also worked
with copper
engravings.
• Because many prints
can be made of the
same image, Durer
was able to sell them
at more modest prices
than his paintings.
• This allowed him to
become a wealthy
artist and honored
citizen in his home
town of Nuremberg.
• Many of Durer’s prints
deal with religious
stories.
• Durer’s most famous
prints came from a
series illustrating the
Apocalypse, The Book
of Revelation in the
Bible.