Albrecht Dürer
German·1471–1528
Northern Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) elevated printmaking to fine art status while bridging Italian Renaissance ideas with northern European traditions. Born in Nuremberg to a goldsmith father, he trained under the painter and printmaker Michael Wolgemut before two journeys to Italy (1494-95 and 1505-07) that exposed him to the theoretical foundations of Italian art. He corresponded with Raphael and studied works by Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo.
Dürer's woodcuts and engravings, including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Knight, Death, and the Devil, and Melencolia I, achieved unprecedented technical sophistication and emotional depth. His 1500 self-portrait, showing himself in a Christ-like frontal pose, declared the artist's elevated status. Beyond art, he wrote theoretical treatises on proportion and perspective. Emperor Maximilian I became his patron from 1512. Today his prints fill major collections worldwide. The Metropolitan Museum, National Gallery of Art, and Albertina in Vienna hold extensive print collections. His Nuremberg house is now a museum.
