FREE ESSAY ON ALBRECHT DURER

ALBRECHT DURER

Artist and Humanist, Albrecht Durer is one of the most significant figures in the history
f European art outside Italy during the Renaissance (Gowing 195). Portraying the
questioning spirit of the Renaissance, Durer's conviction that he must examine and
explore his own situation through capturing the very essence of his role as artist and
creator, is reflected in the Self-portrait in a Fur Collared Robe (Strieder 10).
With the portrait, Durer's highly self-conscious approach to his status as an artist
coveys his exalted mission of art more clearly than in any other painting. He seems to be
less concerned with himself as a person than with himself as an artist, and less with the
artist than with the origin and exalted mission of art itself. (Strieder 13).
In this self-portrait Durer portrays himself in the guise of the Savior. Durer's natural
resemblance to Christ has been reverently amplified (Hutchinson 67). His bearded face is
grave, and fringed by lustrous shoulder-lenth hair painted in a dark, Christ-like brown
(Russell 89. Scholars have called attention to the fact that, the portrait was intended
to portray Durer as the thinking artist through emphasis on the enlarged eyes and the
right hand. Duere's use of the full-face view and almost hypnotic gaze emphasizes his
belief that the sense of sight is the most noble of the five senses. He wrote in the
Introduction to his Painter's Manual, For the noblest of man's senses is sight...
Therefore a thing seen is more believable and long-lasting to us than something we hear
(Hutchison 68).
The position of the right hand held in front of his chest is almost as if in blessing (89
Russell). Joachim Camerarius, a professor who published a Latin translation of two of
Durer's books, wrote of Durer's intelligent head, his flashing eyes, his nobly formed
nose, his broad chest, and then noted: But his fingers- you would vow you had never seen
anything more elegant (Russell 8). Along with his qualities of mind and eye, the
gracefully extended fingers in his self-portrait portrays his extraordinary faculty of
hand. Camerarius continued:
What shall I say of the steadiness and exactitude of his hand? You might swear that rule,
square, or compasses had been employed to draw lines which he, in face, drew with the
brush, or very often with pencil or pen... this consummate artist's mind, endowed with
all knowledge and understanding of the truth... governed and guided his hand and bade it
trust to itself without any other aids... And this was a subject of greatest wonder to
most distinguished painters who, from their own great experience, could understand the
difficulty of the thing (Russell 8).
Symmetrically arranging his serious, handsome face and mass of shoulder length hair
deliberately invite comparison with the image of Christ. The idealized arrangement and
strict symmetry of the face is based on a construction made up of circle and a triangle,
a formula used down to the Byzantine period for images of the Redeemer. The frontal pose
and symmetrical composition have recurred in many images of Christ, particularly in the
form of the vera icon, or true image (Strieder14).
No architectural setting appears within the plain, black background of the painting
(Hutchison 67). The darkened tone and limited but unified color scheme create a mood of
sanctity (Hutchinson 68). The contours of the face are molded by means of soft light and
transparent shadows, almost in an attempt to fathom the inner depths of Durer's creative
spirit (Strieder 147). Set against the dark background, the strong face and chin emanate
an impression of energy from the portrait. Within the background on the right-hand side,
the inscription reads I Albrecht Durer of Nuremberg painted myself thus, with undying
colors, at the age of twenty-eight years (Hutchinson 67). This was a personal
verification of the quality of his materials and his craftsmanship. And he had painted
his own image in everlasting colors, desiring the hand down an undying image to posterity
(Strieder 14). 
Ironically, the self-portrait did more than preserve his image; it helped foster the
popular characterization of Durer as a Christ-like master, aloof and awe-inspiring.
Albrecht Durer believed that his artistic mission reflected that of Christ. He felt the
artist's creative spirit was God-given, (Russell 89) and saw the ability to create as
being innate, a gift and labor linking man to God (Gowing 56). Art comes from God, he
says. God created all forms of art and the attainment of true, artistic, and lovely
execution in painting is hard to come unto... Whoseoever, therefore, falleth short cannot
attain a right understanding for it cometh alone by inspiration from above (Strieder
14).
Durer was deeply religious, troubled by rebellions and abuses he witnessed within the
church. Traditional values were beginning to show signs of breaking down with great
religious and social upheavals (Gowing 56). The artist shared and understood Martin
Luther's plea for religious toleration, and for official recognition of the need for
reform. There is no doubt that Durer's thought and art were affected by the powerful
reforming spirit of the age (Hutchison 164).
Albrecht Durer desired to establish a system of principles that would foster the
development of a True Art. He wanted to find out all that he could, to obtain a higher
knowledge about everything connected with his art- how to collect knowledge and pass it
on to others (Streider 12). To further fulfill his spiritual role, Durer pledged to write
one last instructional book entitled Food for Young Painters in which he would hand down
all his knowledge and experience as his legacy to those able young men who love art more
than silver and gold (Russell 161). His advice for the young painter was that he be kept
from women... and that he guard himself from all impurity, (for) nothing weakens the
understanding more than impurity. He should be taught how to read and write well, he
should be taught to pray to God for The grace of quick perception (Hutchinson 111). But
the book was never completed before he died suddenly on the sixth of April, 1528
(Hutchison 110).
Bibliography
Works Cited
Gowing, L. (1983). The Encyclopedia of Visual Art. (Vol. 10.) London: Encyclopedia
Britannica International.
Hutchison, J.C. (1990). Albrecht Durer: A Biography. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press.
Russell, F. (1967). The World of Durer: 1471-1528. New York: Time Inc.
Strieder, P. (1984). The Hidden Masters: Durer. Danbury, Connecticut: Masterworks Press.