Albrecht Dürer the Younger (also Duerer; * 21 May 1471 in Nuremberg; † 6 April 1528 Nuremberg) was a German painter, graphic artist, mathematician and art theorist. His paintings, drawings, copper engravings and woodcuts make him one of the outstanding representatives of the Renaissance.
Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was in his twenties due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was associated with the most important Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, and was patronised by Emperor Maximilian I from 1512. Dürer was recognised by both the Lutheran and Episcopal churches.
Dürer's vast body of work includes engravings, his preferred technique in his later prints, altarpieces, portraits and self-portraits, watercoulors and books. The woodcuts are more Gothic than the rest of his work. His well-known engravings include the three master engravings Knight, Death and the Devil (1513), St Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514). His watercolours mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, while his woodcuts revolutionised this medium.
Dürer's introduction of classical motifs into northern art through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the northern Renaissance. This is underpinned by his theoretical treatises, which include principles of mathematics, perspective and ideal proportions.
Albrecht Dürer was one of the most influential, versatile and important personalities in European art and is therefore often considered Germany's most famous painter.
Unlike many of his contemporaries and predecessors, he was one of the few artists who also dealt with the creation of art in theory. It is therefore not surprising that, in addition to his numerous paintings, copperplate engravings and woodcuts, he also published several books dealing, for example, with human proportions or geometry.
However, Dürer's fame is undoubtedly due in large part to his numerous pictures, which are rich in detail.
In these he was always intent on depicting nature as faithfully as possible and showing every detail, no matter how small. An achievement that no other painter before or after him could surpass.
In his home town of Nuremberg, Albrecht Dürer is one of the most important personalities and is still revered today. The Germanic National Museum located there conducts extensive research on the artist and also exhibits some of his works. In addition, there is the Albrecht Dürer House, a unique memorial site where Dürer himself lived and worked for almost 20 years. Today, the well-preserved and renovated burgher's house from 1420 is extensively museumised, making a visit worthwhile for everyone.