Christlike portrait that displayed a divine talent
Albrecht Dürer was a giant of his era, and not shy of making that patently clear. We only have to look at his many self-portraits to see the regard in which he held himself. Of course, recognition of his greatness has grown over the centuries, to reach a far higher prominence than perhaps even he could have imagined.
Before Dürer, artists rarely depicted themselves as the subject of their own paintings. If they did, they kept the image anonymous, as a member of a crowd, or in the background. The confident young Albrecht was just 13 when he painted his first self-portrait and went on to picture himself multiple times. Through these works, you can see him growing more assured and genteel, gaining in stature and elegance.
He saw himself as a visionary, perhaps rightly, seeing as the most illustrious chronicler of the Italian Renaissance, Giorgio Vasari, showered him with praise. In the mid-16th century, when Vasari published The Lives, he exalted Dürer to the heights, declaring that “designers and painters all over Europe have availed themselves of the vast abundance of his beautiful fantasies and inventions”.
When viewers saw his Self-portrait at the age of 28, from 1500, they would have been struck by the correlation with images of Christ. Dürer was openly influenced by the Renaissance masters Mantegna, Leonardo and Bellini, and in this work he employs the unequivocal sensuality that the Venetian Bellini had brought to his painting of the dead Christ. He presents himself in a similarly confrontational pose, his monumental presence in the painting one that had previously been reserved for renditions of Jesus. To add to the biblical connotations, his hair is long and flowing. Dürer’s hand could even be interpreted as raised in blessing.
Here, Dürer is boldly suggesting that his artistry was a gift from the Creator, and that he was far more than merely an artisan, as painters were often positioned. It is clear that he considered himself on a higher plane. He did not choose to portray himself as a simple German craftsman, but rather dressed himself in fur at a time when dress codes were strict – they signalled your station in life.
On his left, the painting is inscribed: “Thus I, Albrecht Dürer from Nuremberg, painted myself with indelible colours at the age of twenty-eight years.”
Dürer was born in 1471, one of at least 14 siblings. At the time, Nuremberg was one of the leading artistic and commercial centres of Europe. Before long, Dürer was recognised as a polymath, one who excelled as a writer, theoretician, painter and graphic artist. By his mid-twenties, he had established his reputation and influence across the continent.
However, his chief contribution was undoubtedly to printmaking. Dürer had apprenticed with his father, a goldsmith, and then with a local painter whose workshop produced woodcut illustrations for important books and publications.
Dürer’s father was accomplished and prosperous, but his uncle was one of the most successful publishers in Germany, owning 24 printing-presses and the renowned Nuremberg Chronicle. This publication contained a large number of woodcut images, many of which Dürer is identified as having worked on. The young man revolutionised printmaking. He expanded the medium’s tonal range, helping transform it from crude craft to an elevated, dramatic platform for artists.
More than any other northern European artist, Dürer was obsessed by the art and theory emerging in Italy. He visited Venice and Florence twice and was consumed with studying the works of the Renaissance in painstaking detail.
As he developed his interest in portraying the human form convincingly, the revolutionary aims of the outstanding Italian artists stuck with him. He theorised extensively on linear perspective and anatomical rendering. During the 1520s, he wrote his treatise Four
Books on Human Proportion, as well as a manual for students intended as an introduction to geometric theory. The achievements of this remarkable young man caught the attention of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, the most prominent figure in German society. Dürer became his official court artist and was entrusted to design and execute multiple projects.
Dürer was also admired for his observational skills. In his 1502 painting Young Hare, considered one of the pinnacles of studies of the natural world, he captured the animal with lifelike accuracy, his delicate use of tiny paint strokes revealing details of the fur, even suggesting the animal’s expression.
During 1513 and 1514, Dürer created a magnificent series of
copperplate engravings, including The Knight, Death and the Devil, Melancholia, St Jerome in His Study.
These works alone have generated a welter of scrutiny and debate analysing their complex, enigmatic iconography.
It is clear that Dürer wished to raise engraving to its highest level, to evoke the sense of classical perfection seen in the most revered paintings. In the same period, he produced his most highly accomplished drawing, an expressively sublime portrait of his mother. Following a year-long trip to the Netherlands to secure new patrons (Maximilian I died in 1519), he returned home having succumbed to an undetermined illness, which afflicted him for the rest of his life. Painting became difficult, but Dürer was able to continue his writings, and some of these were published after his death in 1528.
His loss was deeply mourned across Europe, particularly in Italy, where he was viewed as one of the titans of the Renaissance. His epitaph proclaimed: “Whatever was immortal about Albrecht Dürer lies beneath this mound.”
Far more than an artisan, he considered himself on a higher plane