The Rhinoceros. Albrecht Dürer · CC0 · source

Albrecht Durer

Public domain1471-1528·German·printmaking·Wikipedia ↗

Who

Painter, printmaker and theorist of Nuremberg, the central figure of the Northern Renaissance. The first artist to make prints the main vehicle of a European reputation.

Why they matter

He raised the woodcut and the engraving from craft to art in a single generation. The three "master engravings" of 1513-14 are among the most analysed images ever made, and his AD monogram is the first trademark in art history, litigated in Venice in 1506.

What to buy

Originals: genuine Durer impressions exist in real numbers because he printed for the market and the plates outlived him. Lifetime impressions of the major engravings are six figures; later impressions from the worn plates and the countless sixteenth- and seventeenth-century copies are far less, and copies after Durer were themselves a Renaissance industry. Anything on eBay under a thousand dollars is a copy, a facsimile or a later book illustration - which can still be a fine thing to own if called what it is. Books: Dover's complete engravings and complete woodcuts are cheap and complete.

Notes

The Albertina in Vienna holds the Young Hare and the Great Piece of Turf, shown only rarely for conservation reasons. The Met's Durer holdings are online in full.

Key works

Melencolia I (1514) - engraving
Knight, Death and the Devil (1513) - engraving
Saint Jerome in His Study (1514) - engraving
Rhinoceros (1515) - woodcut
Young Hare (1502) - Albertina, Vienna

Albrecht Durer

Who

Why they matter

What to buy

Notes

Key works

In museum collections

See the work

Prints

Books

Originals

See also