Hope Gallery

Catalog# DURA-003

Artist: Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

• Born May 21, 1471 in Nuremberg, Germany. Son of Albrecht Dürer the Elder and mother unknown.
• 1494 - Married Agnes Frey in Nuremberg
• Died April 6, 1528

Education:

• Thru 1486 (age 15) – Taught by his father.
• 1486 - 1490 – Apprentice to painter and printmaker Michael Wolgemut.
• 1490 - 1494 – Bachelor’s journey

Travels:

• 1494 - 1495 – First journey to Italy
• 1495 - 1505 – Returned to Nuremberg where he produced the famed woodcut Apocalypse series.
• 1505 - 1507 – Second journey to Italy
• 1507 - 1520 – Returned to Nuremberg
• 1520 – 1528 – Traveled to Aachen where he received commissions from Maximilian’s predecessor Charles V.

Albrecht Durer was a well-educated man, an experienced painter and a great master in all areas of art.

A goldsmith's son born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1471, Durer had a fertile imagination and was considered a Renaissance man. He was a painter, draughtsman, goldsmith, musician and a writer. He was prolific with over 200 woodcuts and 100 line engravings. Durer was a designer and studied anatomy, mathematics, proportions, perspective and he completed a manual of geometry. He also designed the first flying machine. He spent years in northern Italy and experimented with new technology.

Durer was a graphic artist and made religious themes and altar pieces. He was one of the first to use tempera and oil glazes. Some of his great works are his Self-Portrait and 'Adam and Eve.' Some of his others are 'Melainelalia' which was painted in 1514; 'Knight', 'Death', 'The Devil' which was painted in 1513, and 'The Four Horsemen' painted in 1498. He became a Protestant and aided Martin Luther in his Protestant Reformation. He was a great artist under great tension and suffered a nervous breakdown in 1519.

He was one of the greatest northern Renaissance artists and made a lasting impact on all artists with his use of tempera and oil glazes. He died at the age of 57 in 1528.