Albrecht Dц?rer (Durer Albrecht)

(1471-1528)
Dц?rer was a keen researcher of nature and an ardent supporter of the Italian (Renaissance) theory of art, but his work appeared in many features of medieval mysticism. Dц?rer enthusiastically talked about his life, perhaps prompted by vanity, he described the various aspects of family history, in his diary, on a visit to the Netherlands, and a few personal letters. Self-portraits by Durer, even more than his own words, show a constant striving for self-knowledge and the formation of self. The first self-portrait of the artist created in the age of thirteen. In this figure, a silver pencil, he appears thin sensitive boys. In the same vein, Dц?rer painted himself in a chamber on the nature of Self-Portrait with a carnation (1493, Louvre). Here he was twenty-two years. Refined and winding contours of his smart clothes echoed wavy lines long blond hair. At Madrid's Self-Portrait (1498, Prado) Dц?rer appears successful man. His hands rest on the parapet, behind a view from the window. Here he is shown with a beard, dressed in a gown of rich burgher. In this portrait reflects the Renaissance approach to treatment of the individual artist, who must now be regarded not as a humble craftsman, as well as individuals with high intellectual and professional status. In 1500, these trends culminate in a self-portrait in the image of Christ (Munich, Alte Pinakothek). Here ego masters, noticeable in his earlier self-portraits, is replaced by a sober directness. The figure is strictly frontal, eyes riveting account, tone karnatsii supplemented with various shades of brown, dark background. In this work, Durer, apparently sought to convey the idea that the artist, like God, is the creator.

Dц?rer was born May 21, 1471 in Nuremberg, the main center of German humanism. His artistic talent, . professional qualities and outlook were formed under the influence of three people, . played a most important role in his life: his father, . Hungarian goldsmith; godfather Kobergera, . leave jewelry and taking up a publishing business, and closest friend Durer, . Vilibalda Pirkhaymera - an outstanding humanist, . had met a young artist with the new Renaissance of ideas and works of Italian masters,
.

Durer mastered the basics of painting and woodcuts in the artist Michael Wohlgemuth. After several years of study in 1490 he went to Colmar to see the great engraver Martin Schongauer, but did not find him alive. 1492-1494 he held in Basel, the largest center of production of illustrated books. Here the young artist got carried away woodcuts and engravings on copper, but of the many engravings attributed to this period of creativity Durer, his work can be considered only frontispiece to the edition of St. messages. Jerome 1492.

In 1494, after a visit to Strasbourg, Dц?rer returned to his homeland, but soon went to Venice. On the way the wizard, do some wonderful watercolor landscapes, which are among the first works of this genre in Western European art.

Back in Nuremberg in 1495, the artist opened his own studio and began to make drawings, in which his pupils produced woodcuts. In publishing a significant number of impressions, Durer in 1497 began to use the services of agents who sold his prints all over Europe. Thus, he became not only an artist but also a publisher, and his fame strengthened publication in 1498 a series of woodcuts Apocalypse. In the engraving of Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse horses fly over the bodies of fallen people. Emotional tension is achieved by contrasting dark dense parallel hatching, large patches of pure white paper and places where forms are marked by thin lines, barely, so create a wonderful sculptural effect. At this time the glory of Dц?rer, who in 1496 was patronized the Elector of Saxony Friedrich, spread throughout Europe.

In 1503-1504 Durer creates wonderful watercolor sketches of animals and plants, of which the most famous large piece of turf (1503, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum). Written by various shades of green, the plants are depicted with unparalleled accuracy and precision.

Fulfilled in 1504 engraving of Adam and Eve differs monumentality and klassitsiziruyuschimi trends. Both figures - the fruit of studies the proportions of the human body, occupying Durer's lifelong. Now the artist turned to engraving on metal, which provided the opportunity to operate more subtle and flexible lines than those which can be obtained in engineering woodcuts.

In 1506, perhaps to escape the plague, Dц?rer once again came to Venice. Ratio Durer to Venice was ambivalent. For him, this city was at once a hangout of swindlers and thieves, and a place 'where I was - lord, while the house - just a parasite'. In the altarpiece for the German church in Rialto Holiday rosaries (1506, Prague, National Gallery), Durer used a traditional Italian iconography sacra conversazione (Madonna on the throne with her upcoming saints on either side). In this painting Madonna and Child with the emperor and worship the Pope, and behind them - a crowd of people, in which Dц?rer painted many of his contemporaries.

Returning to Nuremberg, Dц?rer continued to engage in the engraving, but among his works of 1507-1511 more important place occupied by paintings. Durer, apparently, did not attract a widely spread in these years reception Sfumato (misty softness of shapes in the painting), and he continued to write in the linear hard-style. This period is characterized by such films as Adam and Eve (1507, Prado). Flexible elongated body proportions with mild signs of sex, placed on a dark background, more graceful than Adam and Eve in the engraving 1504. In 1508 for the Dominican church in Frankfurt, Durer wrote a great way Assumption (not preserved and is known only in copies). In his compositions reflected the influence of the Italian two-story image of Our Lady of the Assumption. Using this scheme, the master has achieved remarkable monumental images. In 1511 commissioned by the merchant Matthцєus Landauer Durer wrote Adoration of the Trinity (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum). This - the most ambitious of all the works of the artist. The Trinity is depicted on the central axis (the Holy Spirit as a dove, . Father, . crowned, . and the crucified Christ); around - who worship the divine throne of St., . forming four groups: upper left - the martyrs, headed by the Mother of God, on the right - the prophets, . prophetess Sibyl and under the leadership of John the Baptist at the bottom left - the church leaders, . led by two popes, . and the right - the laity, headed by the Emperor and King,
. At the bottom shows the landscape with a lake on the shore of which shows a lone figure Durer himself at the blackboard with the words. Painting is hard and dry, sparkling colors seem almost metallic, solid and dense forms contrast with the softness of the landscape and the clouds.

If 1507-1511 Durer mainly engaged in painting, the 1511-1514 years were devoted primarily etching. He released a second edition of the Apocalypse, a series of twenty woodcuts Life of Mary, a series of twelve engravings of great passions and thirty-seven engravings on the same subject - Small Passion. During this period, his style became more confident, the contrasts of light and shade stronger, such as in the Taking of Christ engravings custody (Large Passion series) and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In 1512 Dц?rer published the third series of engravings The Passion of the exquisite and refined execution of. In 1513-1514, he created three of the most famous of its leaves: Knight, Death and Devil, SW. Jerome in his cell, and Melancholia I. The first, a Christian knight riding on a hilly terrain, followed by Death, with hour-glass and the devil. The image of the knight arose, perhaps under the influence of the treatise of Erasmus Guide Christian Warrior (1504). Knight - an allegory of active life, he performs his feats in the struggle with death. Sheet SW. Jerome in his cell, in contrast, is an allegorical depiction of a contemplative way of life. The old man sits at the desk, deep in the cell, in the foreground stretched lion. Through the windows in this peaceful cubby shed light, but here and invade characters reminiscent of the death: a skull and hourglass. In the engraving Melancholia I winged female figure, seated among scattered in a mess of instruments and tools.

In 1514 Dц?rer became a court painter of Emperor Maximilian I. Together with his assistants, he created an engraving (3? 3,5 m), which depicts a triumphal arch and a solemn procession. The composition was intended to glorify the history of the imperial dynasty and the exploits of the emperor and his ancestors. Dц?rer continued writing and painting, creating a remarkable portrait of Emperor Maximilian (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) and the image of the Virgin and Child with St.. Anna (1519-1520, Metropolitan). The latter is a composition consisting of three tightly grouped figures. Sv. Anna thoughtfully put her hand on the shoulder of the young Virgin, worshiping the Christ Child.

In 1519 Maximilian died, and the throne passed to Charles V. In 1520 Dц?rer went to the court of the new emperor. The trip turned into a long journey to the Netherlands, described in detail by Durer in the travel diary. Artist everywhere received with honors, from the way he saw a variety of works of art, from Van Eyck's Ghent altar to samples of American Indian art, brought from Mexico companions of Cortes. Returning to Germany, he began to conceptualize their observations and wrote treatises on proportions of the human body and on the run - problems that have held it ever since the first trip to Italy.

The question of religious ideas Durer remains unanswered. In the subjects of his paintings can be found and Catholic, and Protestant hues. He sympathized with Luther, with whom, however, was not familiar. In 1526 Dц?rer created the portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam (engraving on copper), whose moderate religious views, seems to coincide with his own. Diptych Four Apostles (1526, Munich, Alte Pinakothek) was donated to the city council of Nuremberg Durer. Perhaps the four figures of the Apostles in the growth were written under the influence of images of the altar by Giovanni Bellini Frari church in Venice (1488). In the left pane so beloved Luther John the Evangelist is placed in front of Peter - a stumbling adoption of Catholicism, in the right pane Paul, the apostle of the Reformation, is ahead of Mark. Perhaps this piece was created specifically for the newly Protestant city, but the inscription at the bottom and can be regarded as a warning against any manifestation of religious fanaticism.

Dц?rer died in Nuremberg, April 6, 1528.