
Public Domain
Albrecht Dürer completed this portrait in 1490, when he was just eighteen years old. It depicts his father, the goldsmith Albrecht the Elder, at age sixty-two or sixty-three. This small oil on panel measuring 47.5 by 39.5 centimeters represents Dürer's earliest surviving painting and heralds the characteristic style of his mature work.
The elder Dürer appears in profile facing right, wearing a dark fur-lined robe and black hat. In his hands he holds a rosary, indicating a personal spiritual moment. The subdued greenish background allows the figure to stand out with quiet dignity. The date "1490" and Dürer's monogram appear in the upper left corner, possibly the oldest extant instance of his famous "AD" signature.
Dürer painted this portrait the month before leaving on his journeyman travels. A companion piece showing his mother, Barbara Holper, was created as a diptych but has been separated since at least 1628. The father panel now hangs at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, while the mother's portrait remains in Nuremberg.

Leonardo da Vinci
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Sandro Botticelli, 1482
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Sandro Botticelli
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Fra Angelico
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence
Other masterpieces from the Northern Renaissance movement

Jan van Eyck, 1436
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Jan van Eyck, 1434
National Gallery, London

Hugo van der Goes, 1475
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Jan van Eyck, 1432
Saint Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent

Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1526
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid
Jan van Eyck
St. Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Ghent

Jan van Eyck
St. Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Ghent

Jan van Eyck
Sabauda Gallery, Turin, Turin
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