The interior contains a tall archway, framing Dürer’s head, and to the right a window opens out with the view of an idealised landscape, where green fields give way to a tree-ringed lake. Snow-capped mountains can be glimpsed in the distance, most likely to signal the artist’s journey over the Alps three years earlier. This device of presenting a distant landscape, viewed through a window, is borrowed from Dutch portraiture. This portrait was later acquired by Charles I of England, as well as Philip IV of Spain.
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PORTRAIT OF OSWOLT KREL
This 1499 canvas, now housed in Munich’s Alte Pinakothek, comes from the collection of the Princes Oettingen-Wallerstein, who had acquired the painting in 1812. It is presumed that Oswolt Krel, a merchant of the Ravensburg House in Nuremberg from 1495 to 1503, had requested a true representation, indicated by the portrait’s notable size and its half-length setting, all suggesting that it was intended for private use. Krel was the same age as Dürer and he was later to become the mayor of Lindau, the merchant’s native city.
Two side panels accompany the portrait, representing two “sylvan men” and Krel’s heraldic shields. It was originally intended that the portrait should be closed from the retro, allowing the large painting to be conserved. The background of the scene is divided unevenly between a curtain and a landscape of tall trees, with the latter receiving less attention.
The large fur-lined cloak is casually placed on the right shoulder only, revealing a rich black garment with a puffed sleeve on the left. The three-quarter format allows Dürer to focus on the quality of the Krel’s garments and gold chain. The red curtain occupies most of the space on the right, its bright hues providing a strong contrast to Krel’s facial features. The sitter is presented with distinct pomp, his expression severe, even menacing. At odds with this, his left hand clutches his cloak in an anxious manner, while the contraction of the knotted fingers of the right hand, as he leans on an invisible window sill, adds an impression of forced restraint. At once we are given the impression of a commanding presence that should be feared, perhaps hinting that Krel himself is unaware of the full extent of his strength or power.
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SELF PORTRAIT WITH FUR-TRIMMED ROBE
Dürer’s third and final self portrait was painted early in 1500, just before the artist’s twenty-ninth birthday. Considered to be the most personal and complex of his self portraits, it is remarkable for its resemblance to many earlier representations of Christ and its direct confrontation with the viewer. The portrait is half-length, frontal and highly symmetrical, with no conventional background features that would indicate a specific time or place. It also features two inscriptions, placed in dark fields on either side of Dürer, as if floating in space, emphasising the highly symbolic nature of the work. Brown tones set against the plain black background establish a sombre mood. The face has the inflexibility and impersonal dignity of a mask, hiding all emotion that is within.
At the time of its completion, a frontal pose was exceptional for a secular portrait. Medieval and Early Renaissance art had developed the more challenging three-quarters view and artists were often keen to demonstrate their skill in using this new format. A frontal pose therefore would have been most associated with images from medieval religious art, particularly representations of Christ.
Unlike the previous two self portraits, where Dürer stresses his fashionable hairstyle and clothing, this last interpretation of the theme presents the artist as a more mature and grounded man. In the medieval view of the stages of life, the age of twenty-eight marked the transition from youth to maturity. The portrait therefore commemorates a turning point in the artist’s life, as well as in the millennium: the year 1500 being displayed in the centre of the upper left background field.
Dürer has opted to present himself monumentally, in a style that unmistakably recalls depictions of Christ, perhaps playing upon the suggestion that there is a parallel with Christ in the artist’s role as a creator. This view is supported by the painting’s Latin inscription, composed by Celtes’ personal secretary, which translates as; “I, Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg portrayed myself in everlasting colours aged twenty-eight years”.
This final self portrait was most likely donated or sold by Dürer to the Nuremberg city council, by whom it was held on continuous public display in Nuremberg from just before his death in 1528 until 1805, when it was sold to the Bavarian Royal Collection. The painting is now housed in Munich’s Alte Pinakothek, while a copy replaces the original that had been on display in the City Hall.
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Self portrait with a pillow, drawing of 1491-92. This study for the Louvre self portrait was executed on the reverse of that canvas. Note the similarity in the position of the artist’s fingers, although in this drawing he shows his left rather than right hand.
LAMENTATION FOR CHRIST
Dürer was commissioned by Albrecht Glimm, a goldsmith, to produce a panel painting of the Lamentation for Christ for the patron’s first wife, Margareth Holzhausen, who had died on 22 October 1500. The scene is composed of nine figures under the cross, framed by a beautiful landscape in which Jerusalem can be seen by the lakeshore in the foreground. The depiction of Jerusalem as a city near water, with house, towers and fortification walls, lying against rocky mountains, indicates that is an invented, Nordic city, rather than the actual appearance of the Holy City. In the centre of the canvas, we can see the door opening into the garden of Gethsemane, while on the right, there is the entrance to the tomb in the rock, through which we can also see the uncovered sarcophagus. The painting is celebrated for its range of detailed and individual depictions of the sufferers around the figure of Christ, providing a scale of pain and grief through various degrees of feeling.
The theme of the Lamentation for Christ is from a Dutch, not a German tradition. Dürer interprets the theme in Italian terms, associating the nine figures in groups of three. The first triad features Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene and Saint John the Evangelist, aligned in an ascending order under the cross. In the second triad in the centre, the three Marys represent three ages of life, as the Madonna wrings her hands in sorrow, accompanied by the other two Marys, who share her grief. The last triad includes Joseph of Arimathea, supporting the body of Christ with the sudarium — the cloth used to wrap around Christ following the crucifixion. Christ’s skin is pale, accentuated by light coming from the left, while his limbs appear realistically limp and lifeless.
The entire scene is illuminated by light, suggesting, perhaps, that the suffering of the lamentation should be accompanied by a feeling of comfort, witnessed by John and Mary Magdalene, whose hopeful gazes are turned toward this light. According to medieval tradition, the figures of the donors are painted, kneeling at the bottom of the scene: on the right, in the position of honour, there is the goldsmith Albrecht Glimm with his coat of arms and two sons, while to the left we can see his late wife with her coat of arms and daughter.
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Alte Pinakothek, a major art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich — home to many Dürer masterpieces, including ‘Lamentation for Christ’
A YOUNG HARE
Dürer probably painted the following watercolour of a hare from a stuffed model, aided by his careful observation of live animals. He would become one of the earliest artists to tackle nature studies and this painting is one of his finest examples. It presents an ultra-realistic view of a frightened hare, cowering down, with its ears alert, as though prepared to spring up and flee at any moment. The animal’s fur is depicted in precise gradations and shades, employing a variety of brushstrokes. The mullion and transom of a window
are reflected in the hare’s shining eye. Dürer’s ability to give an animal portrait such an individual expression helped lead to the image being copied and developed many times in the ensuing centuries.
Though painted in watercolour first, Dürer then applied opaque gouache on top, painting groups of lines that are longer or shorter, thicker or finer, depending on how the fur lies on the hare’s body. Finally, he added white highlights, ensuring the shadow provides a three-dimensional effect. Dürer added his monogram and the year in a prominent position, revealing that he regarded it as a finished work of art.
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Hans Hoffmann’s 1528 copy of ‘Young Hare’, which adapts freely from the source, though still bearing the AD monogram.
ADORATION OF THE MAGI
Adoration of the Magi, a 1504 oil-on-wood painting, was commissioned by Frederick the Wise for the altar of the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg. Considered as one of Dürer’s most important works from the period between his first and second trips to Italy (1494-1505), it most likely formed the central part of a polyptych, narrating on the side wings the story of Job, now housed separately in Frankfurt and Cologne. The elector of Saxony later donated the painting to Emperor Rudolph II in 1603. An exchange in 1793 with the Presentation at the Temple by Fra Bartolomeo brought the Adoration of the Magi from a gallery in Vienna to the Uffizi.
The Madonna is portrayed in azure garments, a white veil covering her head. She holds out the Christ Child, wrapped in her white veil, to the eldest king of the three Magi. He offers the infant a gold casket bearing the image of Saint George, which the infant has already taken with his right hand. This is the only action that unfolds in the principal scene, except for the Oriental servant’s gesture of putting his hand in his bag. All the other characters are immobile; locked in thought, as they look straight ahead or sideways, creating the effect of a staged spectacle. The kings are depicted in lavish clothing, with precious jewels, beautiful goblets and caskets that they bear as gifts. According to the Nordic tradition, previously adopted by Mantegna in Italy, one of the kings is a Moor. The facial features of the young king with long blond curly hair, standing in the middle of the painting, bears, according to recent interpretation, a resemblance to a self portrait of Dürer.
The architecture of the ruins behind the Madonna is detailed, though idealised, based on the artist’s previous experiments in drawings and engravings. The ruins create an impression of depth in the image, which is enforced by the hill town in the far distance. The background light is notably of a Nordic city, while to the far right we can see a lake and a boat. Dürer was passionately devoted to the study of animals and the natural world, which he strove to reproduce faithfully from life. He would often include these features in his landscape passages, as seen in The Adoration of the Magi in the inclusion of horses, birds, foliage and a large insect.
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‘Jabach Altarpiece’ by Albrecht Dürer, c. 1503–1504l, Frankfurt, and Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne
Schlosskirche, Wittenberg
FEAST OF THE ROSARY
Reminiscent of Bellini’s San Giobbe Altarpiece, the following 1506 canvas was produced during Dürer’s sojourn in Venice, having been commissioned by Jakob Fugger — the intermediary between emperor Maximilian I and Pope Julius II — when the artist was the banker’s guest in Augsburg. According to the contract, the painting, which was to be housed in the church of the German nation in Venice, San Bartolomeo at Rialto, should be finished before May 1506. The subject was the Feast of the Rosary, a theme connected to the particular worship that the German citizens in Venice held with high regard for Our Lady of the Rosary.
In spite of the contract, the execution dragged on until September 1506, when the Doge, the Patriarch and other Venetian nobles visited Dürer’s workshop to see the completed work. In a letter written to Nurnberg’s Senate in 1523, Dürer comments on how the doge had offered him the position of the Republic’s painter, but he had refused. The visitors were likely to have included, among other artists, the celebrated Giovanni Bellini.
Mary is presented as the Virgin Enthroned, holding the Christ Child in the centre, accompanied by two flying cherubim, bearing an elaborated royal crown made of gold, pearls and gems, in keeping with a Flemish art scheme common in the German area at the time. The throne’s backrest is covered with a green drape and by a baldachin (an ornamental canopy of state over the throne), which is held by two more flying cherubim. In the bottom centre, an angel plays the lute, believed to be in homage to Giovanni Bellini’s altarpieces. Mary is depicted in the act of distributing rose garlands to two groups of kneeling worshippers, portrayed on two symmetrical rows at the sides.
The two rows are headed, on the left, by Pope Julius II, crowned by the Child and followed by a procession of religious figures; and, on the right, by the German Emperor Frederick III, crowned by Mary and followed by a lay procession. The Pope and the Emperor, considered at the time the supreme authorities of the Catholic world, have removed their respective papal tiara and imperial crown, and are kneeling to receive the Madonna’s blessing.
On the right, before a beautiful Alpine landscape, Dürer has included a self portrait, as he holds a cartouche, revealing his signature and a short inscription, detailing the time taken to complete the work, five months. The inclusion of himself in the painting, among such powerful figures and patrons, indicates the artist’s swift-growing sense of importance. The characters next to the painter are believed to be Leonhard Vilt, founder of the Brotherhood of the Rosary in Venice, and Hieronymus of Augsburg, the architect of the new Fondaco dei Tedeschi.
In 1606, Feast of the Rosary was acquired by Emperor Rudolf II, who had the canvas moved to Prague. It was assigned to the Strahov Monastery and, during the centuries, it underwent several restorations, causing damage to the painted surface. Later, it was moved to the Rudolfinum and then to the National Gallery of the Czech capital.
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‘Portrait of Jakob Fugger’ by Albrecht Dürer, 1518, Staatsgalerie Altdeutsche Meister — Fugger commissioned ‘Feast of the Rosary’ in 1506.
The San Giobbe Altarpiece by Giovanni Bellini, c. 1487, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice — a likely source of inspiration for Dürer when creating ‘Feast of the Rosary’
ADAM AND EVE
Completed in 1507, this pair of panels followed Dürer’s 1504 copper engraving on the same subject, giving the artist the opportunity of depicting the ideal human figure. Painted in Nuremberg soon after his return from Venice, the panels are largely influenced by Italian art. Dürer’s observations on his second trip to Italy provided him with new approaches to portraying the human form. He depicts Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, at life-size, being the first full-scale nude subjects in German painting. The colouring is muted and the bodies are delineated with the aid of light and shadow, allowing the figures to emerge from the dark background. Eve’s skin is whiter than Adam’s, as she stands next to the Tree of Knowledge, portrayed in an unusual posture, with one foot behind the other. Her right hand rests on a branch, while she accepts with her left hand the ripe apple offered by the coiled serpent. Adam inclines his head towards Eve, stretching out the fingers of his right hand on the other side, serving a sense of balance to the structure. The nearby tablet bears the inscription: “Albrecht Dürer, Upper German, made this 1507 years after the Virgin’s offspring.”
The two panels were first held in the Prague Castle, the property of collector Rudolf II. During the Thirty Years’ War, the armies plundered the castle and the panels came to be owned by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. His daughter, Christina, gave the work to Philip IV of Spain in 1654. Then in 1777, King Charles III ordered the paintings be hidden in the R
eal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Adam and Eve arrived at its current home, Madrid’s Museo del Prado, in 1827, though it was not publicly displayed until 1833.
Masters of Art - Albrecht Dürer Page 2
