Masters of Art - Albrecht Dürer
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‘Adam and Eve’ by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1600 — inspired by Dürer’s famous panels
MARTYRDOM OF THE TEN THOUSAND
The painting featured in the following plates was commissioned in 1508 by Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, Dürer’s patron since 1496, for the All Saints’ Church, Wittenberg. Frederick was drawn to the subject as his collection of relics included items associated with the ten thousand martyrs — a band of Roman soldiers crucified for their conversion to Christianity. Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand was repeatedly mentioned in correspondence between the artist and Jakob Heller of Frankfurt, where we learn that the artist received 280 florins for it.
The painting concerns the legendary martyrdom of ten thousand Christian soldiers on Mount Ararat by the King of Persia, Shapur I, following the order of the Roman emperor Hadrian or Antoninus Pius. Numerous different martyrdoms populate the scene in a forest, with clearings and cliffs. In the foreground we are witness to appalling crucifixions, decapitations and a tortuous hammer ordeal. The Persian King appears as an Ottoman sultan, riding a horse on the right. The executioners also wear gaudy Ottoman dress. In the background prisoners are led to a cliff from where they are thrown down against rocks and thorny bushes, and there are scenes of fighting, stoning and violence with huge clubs. In Dürer’s time the portrayal of an oriental potentate carrying out such atrocities would have been perceived as a reference to the threat of Turkish invasion, following the Siege of Constantinople in 1453.
At the centre of the mayhem, dressed in black, are two characters walking calmly, and somewhat eerily, among the horrors: one of the figures is Dürer, confirmed by his holding a staff with the inscription: “This work was done in the year 1508 by Albrecht Dürer, German”; while the other figure is Dürer’s friend, Conrad Celtes, a German Renaissance humanist scholar and Neo-Latin poet, who had died a few months before the execution of the painting.
Dürer had used the same subject for a woodcut ten years before, but in the painting he chose to remove some of the macabre details, including the torture of the Bishop Acacius, who in the woodcut is portrayed having his eyes mutilated with a drill. The canvas instead details a crucifixion on the right, with the bishop in chains behind it.
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Dürer’s 1496 woodcut on the subject
MELENCOLIA I
Dürer exerted a huge influence on the artists of succeeding generations, especially in printmaking, the medium through which his contemporaries mostly experienced his art, as his paintings were predominantly in private collections located in only a few cities. The artist’s success in spreading his reputation across Europe through prints was undoubtedly an inspiration for other leading artists, including Raphael, Titian and Parmigianino, all of whom collaborated with printmakers in order to promote and distribute their work.
Melencolia I, one of the artist’s most famous engravings, was produced in 1514 and the allegory has since been the subject of many interpretations. The title of the work comes from the Melencolia I text appearing within the engraving itself, which is the only Dürer engraving to feature a title in the plate. The date of 1514 appears in the bottom row of the magic square, as well as above Dürer’s monogram at the lower right. It is generally accepted that Dürer had not planned for a series of engravings on the subject, as the “I” most likely refers to the first of the three types of melancholia defined by the German humanist writer Cornelius Agrippa. In this engraving we see Melencholia Imaginativa, which Agrippa held artists to be subject to when ‘imagination’ predominates over ‘mind’ or ‘reason’.
A magic square is an arrangement of distinct numbers (where each number is used once), in a square grid, where the numbers in each row, and in each column, and the numbers in the main and secondary diagonals, all add up to the same number. The square in the engraving features the traditional magic square rules based on the number 34, and in addition, the square’s four quadrants, corners and centre also equal this number.
The winged genius, representing the figure of Melancholy, rests her head on her hand, in a pensive manner, while holding a compass. She is surrounded by geometric shapes, including a sphere and a giant polyhedron, along with scattered woodworking tools. These tools are drawn from the field of measuring and building; namely architecture. The rhomboid and sphere represent geometry, the science of measurement and numbers upon which all arts are based. On the wall of the building, we can see a bell, an hourglass and scales. A dog sleeps at Melancholy’s feet and a cherub sits astride an upturned millstone. A bat-like creature holds up the inscription “Melencolia I”. The symbolic choice of animals adds to the melancholy atmosphere, creating the sense of a dark world.
An autobiographical interpretation of Melencolia I has been suggested by several historians, including Iván Fenyő, who considered the engraving to be a representation of the artist beset by a loss of confidence. Others associate Dürer’s Melancholy figure with a lyric confession, the self-conscious introspection of the Renaissance artist, unprecedented in northern art. Although the precise meaning of the image remains elusive, we cannot help but note the relationship it suggests between melancholy and creativity. Though melancholy may sap enthusiasm for creativity, it can alternatively be a creative force, which has aided artists in time of trouble and dismay.
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PORTRAIT OF MICHAEL WOLGEMUT
Dürer’s master, Michael Wolgemut (c. 1434-1519), operated one of the largest artist’s workshops in Germany. In 1516 Dürer painted the following portrait of Wolgemut, providing the inscription: “This portrait was done by Albrecht Dürer of his teacher, Michael Wolgemut… and he was 82 years old, and he lived until 1519, when he departed this life on St Andrew’s Day morning before sunrise.” Dürer had served his apprenticeship under Wolgemut from 1486 until 1489 and the elder artist was very likely proud of his former pupil’s rapid rise in the world. The focus of the portrait is Wolgemut’s head, set against a neutral green background. The portrayal of the ageing man is realistic and true, featuring sunken eyes and loose skin around Wolgemut’s gaunt neck. The master wears a fur-lined coat and a simplistic scarf, most likely what he would have worn in his workshop to keep off the dust. Nevertheless, this portrait of an artist reveals the unchecked vivacity of the man, whose eyes remain alert, while his facial features suggest a thoughtful and intelligent person.
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THE FOUR APOSTLES
Dürer’s last great work, formed of two panels, was donated by the artist on 6 October 1526 to the people of Nuremberg. As it was common in medieval cities in Italy to bestow the town hall with an artwork that would serve as an example of prosperity and good government, Dürer was keen to follow this practice by providing his native city with a special gift. On the bottom of the panels the artist wrote: “I have been intending, for a long time past, to show my respect for your excellencies by the presentation of some humble picture of mine as a remembrance; but I have been prevented from so doing by the imperfection and insignificance of my works... Now, however, that I have just painted a panel upon which I have bestowed more trouble than on any other painting, I considered none more worthy to keep it as a memorial than your excellencies.”
The Four Apostles was created during the Reformation, which had started in 1517 and was to have an enormous impact on religious and cultural life in Germany. Due to the fervid Protestant belief that icons were contradictory to the Word of God, which was held in the utmost supremacy over Protestant idea
s, the Protestant church was not a patron of sacred art. Therefore, any Protestant artist, as Dürer became, had to commission their own works. The council gratefully accepted the gift, hanging the panels in the upper government chamber of the city hall and Dürer was in turn awarded an honorarium of 100 florins.
The four monumental figures, measuring two meters, remained in the municipality of Nuremberg until 1627, when, following threats of repression, they had to be sold to the elector of Bavaria, Maximilian I, a great enthusiast of the artist’s work. On that occasion, however, the prince had the inscriptions, at the bottom of the paintings, sawed off and sent back to Nuremberg, as they were considered heretical and harmful to his position as the sovereign Catholic. The city handed them over to Munich’s Alte Pinakothek in 1922, where they were rejoined with their respective panels.
The composition represents John the Evangelist, standing on the far left, holding an open New Testament from which he is reading the first verses of his Gospel. Behind him is the figure of Peter, bearing the golden key to the gates of heaven. On the other panel, standing at the back, is the Evangelist Mark, bearing a scroll, while on the far right is Paul, holding a closed Bible and leaning on a sword, hinting at his execution.
‘The Four Apostles’, witnesses to the faith, function as a warning, as explained in the inscriptions applied by a calligrapher at the bottom of the panels, narrating biblical passages from the recent translation of Martin Luther. These passages contain a reproach to the secular powers not to conceal the divine word in seductive human interpretation. The viewer should take the warning of the “four excellent men” to heart. Dürer knew that his support of the Lutheran movement, indicated by the words in the inscriptions, would have been shared with important and influential citizens.
These panels are Dürer’s last known oil paintings, completed when he was fifty-five years old. Dürer died a year later in Nuremberg, leaving an estate valued at 6,874 florins — a considerable sum at that time. His large house, purchased in 1509 from the heirs of the astronomer Bernhard Walther, where his workshop was located and where his widow lived until her death in 1539, remains a prominent Nuremberg landmark today, functioning as a major museum dedicated to the artist.
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The Paintings
Basel, a city in north-western Switzerland — after completing his term of apprenticeship, Dürer followed the common German custom of taking Wanderjahre — a gap year — in which the apprentice learned skills from artists in other areas. In early 1492, Dürer travelled to Basel to stay with the goldsmith Georg Schongauer, the brother of Martin Schongauer.
THE COMPLETE PAINTINGS
Dürer’s paintings are presented in chronological order, with an alphabetical table of contents following immediately after.
CONTENTS
Portrait of Barbara Dürer (diptych wing)
Portrait of Dürer’s Father (diptych wing)
Alliance Coat of Arms of the Dürer and Holper Families
Self-portrait
Man of Sorrows
Virgin and Child before an Archway
Portrait of Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony
Dresden Altarpiece
Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
Heavenly scene
The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin
The Painter’s Father
Portrait of a Young Woman
Portrait of a Young Fürleger with Her Hair Done Up
Portrait of a Man
Self-Portrait
Lamentation
Madonna and Child
Lot and His Daughters
Combined Coat-of-Arms of the Tucher and Rieter Families
Hans Tucher
Felicitas Tucher, née Rieter
Portrait of Elsbeth Tucher
Portrait of Oswolt Krel
Portrait of St Sebastian with an Arrow
Self-Portrait with Fur-Trimmed Robe
Heracles and the Stymphalian Birds
Paumgartner Altar
Lamentation for Christ
Madonna and Child at the Breast
Jabach Altarpiece
Adoration of the Magi
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of a Venetian Woman
Salvator Mundi
Portrait of Burkard von Speyer
Feast of the Rose Garlands
Portrait of a Young Man
Madonna with the Siskin
Christ Among the Doctors
Portrait of a Venetian Woman
Adam and Eve
Portrait of a Young Man
Allegory of Avarice
Portrait of a Young Girl
The Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand
Heller Altar (copy)
Heller Altar (detail)
Holy Family
The Adoration of the Trinity (Landauer Altar)
The Adoration of the Trinity (detail)
The Adoration of the Trinity (detail)
Madonna of the Pear
Emperor Charlemagne and Emperor Sigismund
The Madonna of the Carnation
Portrait of Michael Wolgemut
Portrait of a Clergyman
The Apostles Philip and James
The Suicide of Lucretia
The Virgin Mary in Prayer
St Anne with the Virgin and Child
Portrait of Jakob Fugger the Wealthy
Emperor Maximilian I
Emperor Maximilian I
Portrait of a Man
Head of a Woman
Portrait of Bernhard von Reesen
Portrait of a Man (Rodrigo de Almada)
St. Jerome in His Study
Portrait of a Man with Beret and Scroll
Virgin and Child with Saint Anne
Madonna and Child with the Pear
Portrait of Jakob Muffel
Portrait of Hieronymus Holzschuher
Portrait of Johannes Kleberger
The Four Apostles
Way to Calvary
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF PAINTINGS
CONTENTS
Adam and Eve
Adoration of the Magi
Allegory of Avarice
Alliance Coat of Arms of the Dürer and Holper Families
Christ Among the Doctors
Combined Coat-of-Arms of the Tucher and Rieter Families
Dresden Altarpiece
Emperor Charlemagne and Emperor Sigismund
Emperor Maximilian I
Emperor Maximilian I
Feast of the Rose Garlands
Felicitas Tucher, née Rieter
Hans Tucher
Head of a Woman
Heavenly scene
Heller Altar (copy)
Heller Altar (detail)
Heracles and the Stymphalian Birds
Holy Family
Jabach Altarpiece
Lamentation
Lamentation for Christ
Lot and His Daughters
Madonna and Child
Madonna and Child at the Breast
Madonna and Child with the Pear
Madonna of the Pear
Madonna with the Siskin
Man of Sorrows
Paumgartner Altar
Portrait of a Clergyman
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of a Man (Rodrigo de Almada)
Portrait of a Man with Beret and Scroll
Portrait of a Venetian Woman
Portrait of a Venetian Woman
Portrait of a Young Fürleger with Her Hair Done Up
Portrait of a Young Girl
Portrait of a Young Man
Portrait of a Young Man
Portrait of a Young Woman
Portrait of Barbara Dürer (diptych wing)
Portrait of Bernhard von Reesen
Portrait of Burkard von Speyer
Portrait of Dürer’s Father (dipt
ych wing)
Portrait of Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony
Portrait of Elsbeth Tucher
Portrait of Hieronymus Holzschuher
Portrait of Jakob Fugger the Wealthy
Portrait of Jakob Muffel
Portrait of Johannes Kleberger
Portrait of Michael Wolgemut
Portrait of Oswolt Krel
Portrait of St Sebastian with an Arrow
Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
Salvator Mundi
Self-portrait
Self-Portrait
Self-Portrait with Fur-Trimmed Robe
St Anne with the Virgin and Child
St. Jerome in His Study
The Adoration of the Trinity (detail)
The Adoration of the Trinity (detail)
The Adoration of the Trinity (Landauer Altar)
The Apostles Philip and James
The Four Apostles
The Madonna of the Carnation
The Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand
The Painter’s Father
The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin
The Suicide of Lucretia
The Virgin Mary in Prayer
Virgin and Child before an Archway
Virgin and Child with Saint Anne
Way to Calvary