Albrecht Durer
    Born: 21 May 1471 in Imperial Free City of Nurnberg (now in Germany)
    Died: 6 April 1528 in Imperial Free City of Nurnberg (now in Germany)
    Albrecht Durer was the third son of Albrecht Durer and Barbara Holfer. He was one of their eighteen children. The Durer family came from Hungary, Albrecht Durer senior being born there, and at this time the family name was Ajtos. The name Ajtos means "door" in Hungarian and when Durer senior and his brothers came to Germany they chose the name Turer which sounds like the German "Tur" meaning door. The name changed to Durer but Albrecht Durer senior always signed himself Turer rather than Durer.
    Here are portraits of his father and mother.
    Albrecht Durer senior was a jeweller who had served his apprenticeship with Hieronymus Holfer, and then married Holfer's daughter. Albrecht Durer junior wrote about his father and his upbringing (see for example):-
    My father suffered much and toiled painfully all his life, for he had no resources other than the proceeds of his trade from which to support himself and his wife and family. He led an honest, God-fearing life. His character was gentle and patient. He was friendly towards all and full of gratitude to his Maker. He cared little for society and nothing for worldly amusements. A man of very few words and deeply pious, he paid great attention to the religious education of his children. His most earnest hope was that the high principles he instilled into their minds would render them ever more worthy of divine protection and the sympathy of mankind. He told us every day that we must love God and be honourable in our dealings with our neighbours.
    As a young boy Durer was educated at the Lateinschule in St Lorenz and he also worked in his father's workshop learning the trade of a goldsmith and jeweller. By the age of 13 he was already a skilled painter as seen from a self portrait which he painted at that time. This was the first of many self-portraits which Durer painted and they provide a wonderful record. Here is our collection of such self-portraits.
    In 1486 Durer became an apprentice painter and woodcut designer to Michael Wolgemut, the leading producer of altarpieces. After an apprenticeship of four years, Durer had learnt all he could from Wolgemut and had reached a level of artistic quality exceeding that of his famous teacher. Wolgemut advised Durer to travel to widen his experience and meet other artists. Following Wolgemut's advice, Durer delayed visiting Italy (which Wolgemut himself never visited), where there were very different artistic styles, until he had fully developed his own style and learnt more techniques from other German artists.
    Here is a portrait of Wolgemut.
    Durer travelled first to Nordlingen, where he met artists of the Swabian school. The Swabian style had been influenced by Dutch artistic design which Durer had not met before. His next visit was to Ulm where he met more artists of the Swabian school. Durer:-
    ... participated with keen enjoyment in the discussions among artists of his own age, in the low-ceilinged taverns, over foaming mugs of beer. These youthful enthusiasts, in common with those of all nations throughout history, were bent on rejuvenation of the art of the world. They were delighted with Durer's drawings, with his first engravings and the small pictures he had already painted, independently of Wolgemut's directions or opinions.
    Leaving Ulm, Durer made his way to Constance which charmed him with its fairyland appearance. Basel was the next town which Durer visited, and he found it quite similar to his home town of Nurnberg. Finally Durer returned home, making visits to Colmar and Strasbourg on the way.
    It had been a long journey of great importance to Durer which had taken nearly four years, but after he returned to Nurnberg in 1494 he felt disappointed that he had not visited Italy. He had also become convinced that:-
    ... the new art must be based upon science - in particular, upon mathematics, as the most exact, logical, and graphically constructive of the sciences.
    Italy was not only a country with new ideas to offer Durer in art, but it was also leading the world at this time in the revival of mathematics. Before setting out for Italy, however, Durer married Agnes Frey, the daughter of a learned man Hans Frey who had made quite a lot of money through making jewellery, musical instruments, and mechanical devices.
    Here are portraits of Agnes.
    The marriage seems to have been more the idea of the parents of Agnes and Albrecht, and the pair were married on 7 July 1494. It was a marriage which helped raise Durer's status in Nurnberg, as well as provide him with money which helped him set up his own studio.
    Before the end of 1494, Durer was on his travels again, leaving Agnes behind in Nurnberg. First he visited Augsburg where he met strong Italian artistic influences for the first time. Travelling through the Tyrol, he reached Trento and his first view of Italy.
    Here is one of his paintings of Trento.
    He travelled on to Verona before reaching Venice which was his main objective. In Venice, Durer, as he had done throughout his journeys, sketched scenes, visited galleries and churches, and met with the local artists. One of the artists that he met in Venice, Giovanni Bellini, had an important influence on Durer for:-
    ... everything that [Venice] could teach him was to be found in Giovanni's paintings. ............