Albrecht Durer: biography and creativity. Albrecht Durer's works: a list

A. Durer (1471-1528) - a great German artist, and in the last years of life and an art theorist. His biography and work are closely connected with the Renaissance. The works of Albrecht Dürer still attract many connoisseurs of painting today. Do you want to know more about it? The life and work of Albrecht Durer are presented in this article.

short biography

His father was a native of Hungary, a silver master. Albrecht studied first with his father, and then with Michael Wolgemuth, a painter and engraver from Nuremberg. 1490-1494 - "years of wandering", mandatory in order to obtain the title of master. Albrecht spent this time in the cities of the Upper Rhine (Strasbourg, Colmar, Basel). Here he entered the circle of book printers and humanists. It is known that Durer wanted to improve in engraving on metal from M. Shogauer in Colmar, but did not find him alive. Then Albrecht began to study the work of this master, talking with his sons, who were also artists.

In 1494 Albrecht Durer returned to Nuremberg. His biography and work were marked at this time by important events. It was then that the marriage took place on Agnes Frey, as well as the opening of her own workshop. After a while, Albrecht decided to make a new trip, this time choosing Northern Italy. He visited Padua and Venice in 1494-95. In Venice, Durer traveled also in 1505, stayed there until 1507. The acquaintance of Albrecht with the emperor Maximilian I dates back to 1512. Apparently, at the same time, Durer began to work for him, until the death of Maximilian, which occurred in 1519. It is known that Albrecht also visited the Netherlands. In the period from 1520 to 1521 he visited cities such as Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Brugge, Malin and others.

Creativity Durer

Albrecht Durer, whose biography and work coincide with the heyday of the German Renaissance, could not stay away from the tendencies of his time. It was a difficult, largely disharmonious period. His character left an imprint on all kinds of art. Revival in Albrecht's works accumulates in itself the originality and richness of German artistic traditions. They are manifested in the guise of Durer's characters, far from beauty in terms of the classical ideal. In addition, the master prefers everything that is sharp, pays great attention to individual details. Of great importance for Albrecht at the same time is the contact with the art of Italy. The work of Albrecht Durer was marked by the fact that he tried to understand the secret of his perfection and harmony. Durer is the only representative of the Northern Renaissance, who, on the multifaceted and focused interests, striving to comprehend the laws of art, create the perfect proportions of a person's figure can be placed on a par with the great masters of the Italian Renaissance.

Drawings

Albrecht Durer's work is diverse. He was gifted as a draftsman, engraver and painter. At the same time, engraving and drawing sometimes occupy even the leading place. More than 900 sheets are the legacy of Durer-draftsman. By its diversity and vastness, it can only be compared with the creations of Leonardo da Vinci. Apparently, drawing was part of the daily life of the master. Dürer perfectly mastered all the graphic techniques of the time - from coal, watercolor, Italian pencil to reed pen and silver pin. As for the Italian masters, the drawing became for Dürer the most important stage in the creation of the composition. This stage included studies, sketches of heads, feet, hands, draperies.

For Durer, drawing was an instrument through which he studied the characteristic types - Nuremberg women of fashion, elegant chevaliers, peasants. The famous works of Albrecht Durer - watercolor master "Hare" (pictured above) and "Piece of turf." They are executed with a cold detachment and such steadiness that could become illustrations to scientific codes.

A series of landscapes

The first significant work of the master is a series of landscapes of 1494-95. These works of Albrecht Durer are executed by watercolor and gouache on his trip to Italy. They are carefully balanced, thoughtful compositions, with spatial plans, alternating with each other. These works by Albrecht Durer are the first in the history of European art "clean" landscapes.

"Christmas", "Adoration of the Magi," "Adam and Eve"

A clear, even-tempered mood, the author's desire for a harmonious balance of rhythms and forms-these are the characteristic features of Durer's painting from the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the second decade of the 16th century. This altar is "Christmas", performed around 1498, and the 1504 work "Adoration of the Magi," in which Durer joins a group of three wise men and Madonna with smooth silhouettes, a calm circular rhythm, as well as the motif of an arch repeated repeatedly in architectural scenery. In the 1500s, one of the main themes of Albrecht's creativity was the desire to find the ideal proportions of the human body. He looks for their secrets by drawing nude female and male figures. Let us note that Albrecht was the first in Germany to study nudity. These searches were summarized in the engraving of 1504 AD Adam and Eve, as well as in the large, eponymous painting diptych performed around 1507.

"Adoration of the Holy Trinity" and "Feast of the Rosary"

The most complex works, ordered harmoniously picturesque compositions from a variety of figures, were performed already in the years of creative maturity Albrecht Durer. Famous works of his include created in 1506 "Feast of the beads", in 1511 - "Worship of the Holy Trinity". "Feast of the beads" is one of the greatest works of Durer (161.5 x 192 cm). In addition, this is one of the most major intonation paintings. The work is close to the art of Italian masters not only with motives, but also with their vitality, fullness of colors, the fullness of images (mostly portrait ones), the balance of composition, the breadth of writing. In the painting entitled "Adoration of the Holy Trinity", which is a small altar work, rhythmic semicircles that echo the arched completion of the altar unite the angels, the fathers of the Church and a host of saints soaring in the heavens. This picture is reminiscent of Raphael's Discourse.

Early Portraits

Without portraits it is difficult to imagine the work of Albrecht Durer. His paintings in this genre are numerous and very interesting. Albrecht already appears in the early work, performed around 1499 (portrait of Oswald Krehl) as an established master. He perfectly conveys the internal energy of the model, the uniqueness of the character. The uniqueness of Albrecht Durer is also in the fact that the self-portrait occupies a leading place in the early period of his portraiture. Back in 1484 he created a drawing with a silver pin, presented at the beginning of the article. Here Albrecht is depicted as a 13-year-old child. Already at that time Durer's hand was guided by the yearning for self-knowledge, which was further developed in the first three of his pictorial self-portraits. We are talking about the works of 1493, 1498 and 1500. In the last work (the photo is presented above) Albrecht is depicted strictly in the front. Framed with a small beard and long hair, his right face reminds us of the images of Christ the Pantocrator.

Engravings

The work of Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) is interesting in that he performed engravings equally successfully on both copper and wood. Albrecht turned the engraving, after Schongauer, into one of the main arts. In the works of Dürer he received an expression of the restless, restless spirit of his creative nature, as well as the dramatic moral collisions that troubled him. In sharp contrast to the clear and calm early picturesque works of the master was the first large-scale graphic series consisting of 15 engravings on the themes of the Apocalypse. These works, performed on a tree, Albrecht created in 1498. Durer in his engravings is much more than in paintings, based on German traditions. They are manifested in the intensity of angular, abrupt movements, excessive expression of images, the rhythm of swirling, swift lines and breaking folds. The image of Fortune from the cut engraving "Nemesis", dating back to the early 1500s, is formidable. This engraving is considered one of Durer's best works.

"The Life of Mary", "Great Passions" and "Lesser Passions"

In the graphic cycle "The Life of Mary", created around 1502-05, the author's interest in genre details, as well as an abundance of details - features characteristic of the German artistic tradition are noticeable. This graphic cycle is the most clear and calm in mood. The other two, dedicated to the passions of Christ, are distinguished by dramatic expression. This is performed on the tree "Great Passion" (circa 1498-1510 gg.), As well as two series of engravings on copper "Small Passions" (the years of creation - 1507-13 and 1509-11). These works of Durer were most famous among his contemporaries.

Triptych of 1513-1514

The engraving of 1513 "Knight, Death and the Devil", as well as two works of 1514 ("Jerome in the Cell" and "Melancholy") occupy an important place in the legacy of Albrecht. They form a kind of triptych. These works were performed by a master with virtuosity subtlety. They are characterized by a rare imaginative concentration and laconism. Apparently, Durer did not intend to create them as a single cycle. Nevertheless, these works unite the moral and philosophical subtext, which is very complex (many works have been devoted to its interpretation today). Apparently, the treatise "The Guide of the Christian Warrior" by E. Rotterdam was inspired by the author of the image of an elderly warrior who is moving towards an unknown goal, despite the Devil following him on the heels, as well as the threats of Death. The warrior is presented against the background of a rocky wild landscape. It is not always easy to perceive the work of Albrecht Durer. The summary of the above-mentioned treatise is important to know for understanding the image of a warrior.

St. Jerome (pictured above), all gone into scientific studies, is the personification of a contemplative life and spiritual self-absorption. The majestic winged Melancholy, immersed in its gloomy reflections, is represented against the backdrop of a chaotic conglomeration of symbols of fast flowing time and sciences, tools of craft.

It is usually interpreted as the personification of the creator's creative, restless spirit. Note that the humanists of the Renaissance found in people with a melancholic temperament, the "divine obsession" of genius, the embodiment of the creative principle. Therefore, we can say that Albrecht Dürer's work is also part of the general trend. Briefly describe his later work.

Late works

Durer, after 1514, worked at the court of Maximilian I (above is his portrait, made by Albrecht). At that time, Albrecht Durer carried out many official orders. The works created by him required great skill, but the most laborious of them was a painted lithograph, made on 192 boards. This work is called the Arch of Maximilian I. Over her creation, worked, except Durer, a large group of artists. After a trip to the Netherlands, accomplished in 1520-21, Albrecht began a new creative upsurge. At this time, a lot of runaway sketches appeared. In addition, a number of excellent graphic portraits were replenished works of Albrecht Durer. The list of them is as follows: the coal "Erasmus of Rotterdam", executed in 1520 , as well as the works of Luka Leidensky (made with a silver pencil), Agnes Durer, in the creation of which a metal pencil was used, etc.

Portraits of the 1520s

The portrait in the 1520s became the main genre in Durer's work. At that time, Albrecht Durer created images in an engraving on the copper of the most prominent humanists of his time. The main works are the following: in 1526 - a portrait of Philip Melanchthon, in 1524 - Willibald Pirkheim, in 1526 - Erasmus of Rotterdam. In painting in 1521 appears "Portrait of a Young Man", in 1524 - "Portrait of a Man", in 1526 - "Hieronymus Holtshuer" and other works. These small works are characterized by impeccable composition, classical completeness, chasing silhouettes. They are effectively complicated by the outlines of huge velvet berets or wide-brimmed hats. The compositional center of these works is a person given a close-up, created by subtle transitions of shadows and light. In a barely perceptible facial expression, in the eyes of wide-open eyes, in the outlines of a slightly curved smile or half-open lips, in an energetic figure of cheekbones and the movement of frowning brows can be seen traces of intense spiritual life. The power of spirit discovered by Albrecht in his contemporaries takes on a large scale in the diptych "Four Apostles" (pictured below), the last painting work of the master (1525). It was written by Dürer for the Nuremberg Town Hall. The great figures of the evangelist Mark, the Apostles Paul, Peter and John are represented, which, according to the contemporaries of the master, represent the four temperaments.

Theoretical work, the value of creativity

In the last years of his life, Albrecht published theoretical works: a guide to measuring rulers and compasses (in 1525), fortresses, castles and cities (1527), and in 1528 appeared the Four Books on the Proportions of Man. Albrecht Durer, whose creativity and fate were examined by us, died in Nuremberg on April 6, 1528.

Dürer strongly influenced the development of all German art in the first half of the 16th century. His prints and in Italy enjoyed great success - even their fakes were issued. Many Italian artists have experienced the impact of his works, including Pordenone and Pontormo.