Art of Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer's artworks are known for having some kind of religious scene depicted in them. A lot of the style in his works was impacted by Italian art from the Renaissance Period. One of Dürer's art works that I wanted to discuss is called  Self-Portrait, painted oil on wood panel in 1500. The portrait is of Dürer himself at age 28.

The first thing that I noticed when looking at this portrait, is the striking resemblance that it has to earlier paintings of Christ. It was popular for artists at that time to paint images of themselves, exactly as they were. Dürer on the other hand, made some alterations to this image so that it would more closely resemble the stories of Christ's physical appearance. He had changed the hair color and painted himself in a straightforward frontal pose, a pose that was popular for depicting the image of Christ in Northern Europe. This Self-Portrait and it's resemblance to the Christ paintings is a way in which Dürer shows the viewer that artists are also "learned and creative geniuses, perhaps God-like, not laboring craftsman." (p. 677 Stockstad)

Before the completion of Self-Portrait, Dürer had traveled to Italy and encountered many new artists. Perhaps that is why his painting has that feel of Italian art. First of all, we notice that the painting is made in a triangular composition, which was popular with High Renaissance art. We can also see the Northern European style in the many different textures of the painting. The soft finish of the human flesh seems like it was the focal point of the painting. The wetness of the eyes, glistening in the light, look like it can be felt when touching the painting. The dismal softness of the clothes, look very rich and royal, which I assume is very soft. Lastly, the tangible quality of his hair is very defined and encourages the viewer to "feel" it. In fact, all of the textures in this painting could be felt at the same time as they are being looked at. Everything looks so realistic.

The two main parts of the portrait that seem to stand out the most, are the artists hand, and the face because of the soft glow of light on them. The reason why the artist might have emphasized these two body parts could be because they were the two things that gave him fame and he was most proud of. The craftiness of his hands to do such amazing artworks, working together with the brilliance of his mind to come up with such ideas and to make them become visual and realistic.