Albrecht Durer: 101 Portrait Drawings & Paintings (Annotated)

Concise, essential and annotated by Raia Iotova, this Art Book contains annotated reproductions of Albrecht Durer portrait drawings and paintings, date and interesting facts page below.

Albrecht Durer was a painter, print-maker, and theorist of the Northern Renaissance. It has been observed by every commentator on Durer's genius that in his work is found the blending of two great traditions the medieval, culminating in the Gothic, and the revered Classical, rediscovered and nurtured by the Renaissance. He was in communication with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, and from 1512 he was patronized by emperor Maximilian I. Durer is commemorated by both the Lutheran and Episcopal Churches. His vast body of work includes engravings, his preferred technique in his later prints, altarpieces, portraits and self-portraits, watercolors and books. His introduction of classical motifs into Northern art, through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists, has secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance.

The range and variety of his work is just amazing. It is impossible today to know how many of his works are lost, but those that have survived, give us a relatively complete view of the range of his work. His woodcarvings and engravings made him great and famous all over Europe, and he is commonly considered the best master in this area. As a painter, Durer has the equal success as in the paintings of religious topics, also in those with secular topics. He painted portraits as well as altars. His drawings and watercolors even today strike us with a variety of techniques and were painted with an almost phenomenal precision.