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Albrecht Dürer was the son of a Hungarian goldsmith. He was born in Neuremburg, Germany on May 21, 1471. In 1494, after completing his apprenticeship with Michael Wolgemut four years early, his family arranged for him to marry Agnes Trey. It was also during this year that he visited Venice and was influenced by its style.
Dürer worked on woodcuts, drawings, paintings and wood and copper engravings. He was most concerned with making his subjects down-to-earth and meaningful to everyday people. In 1507, Dürer went back to Venice and stayed there for a year and a half. When he returned to his home, he primarily focused himself on his engravings. He learned about proportion and perspective and published his thoughts on these two subjects. On April 6, 1528, Dürer died in the city of his birth.
Some are of another opinion and discuss how men ought to be. I will not argue with them about that; but I hold nature for master in such matters and the fancy of man for delusion. The Creator fashioned men once and for all as they must be, and I hold that the perfection of form and beauty is contained in the sum of all men.
-Albrecht Durer, Four Books of Human Proportion (1528)
The unequalled and diligent Albrecht Durer.
-Lambert Lombard, letter to Giorgio Vasari, 1565
His is a grave and profound spirit that lulls us like the dense and complicated accents of a rigorous fugue. Compared to him, we can only chant abbreviated motifs of a few bars.
-Odilon Redon, Journal, 1909
Albert Durer, who drew mathematically, never so much as deviated into grace.
-William Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty (1753)
Self-Portrait at Thirteen Years Old
1484
Adam and Eve, engraving
1504
Altarpiece of the Rose Garlands
1506
Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand
1508
Study of Praying Hands
1508
 
The Four Holy Men, panels
1526
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