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Albrecht Dürer

A woodcut from Dürer’s Apocalypse showing the Vision of the Seven Candlesticks.
The Book of the Revelation of St John, commonly known as the Apocalypse, was a popular subject for illustration throughout the Middle Ages, series of images appeari

The Apocalypse: The Vision of the Seven Candlesticks ©

Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528) was the most influential artist of the Northern Renaissance. The son of a goldsmith, he set up his workshop in 1494 in his native Nuremberg. From here, he produced a wide variety of painted and printed works, from images of saints and Biblical stories to mythology, portraits and scenes of contemporary life.

Dürer was not only a brilliant artist, but also a very clever entrepreneur. He was the first artist fully to exploit the potential of prints – mainly engravings and woodcuts – which could be issued in multiple impressions, circulating his images widely and relatively cheaply. He spread his fame by initialling each with his distinctive AD monogram. By 1497, he was successful enough to employ an agent to handle his foreign print sales. The prints Dürer made were used as objects of devotion, pasted onto walls and into collectors’ albums, and purchased by artists to use as models in their own work.

In 1505, Dürer travelled to Venice to see the Italian Renaissance for himself. Dürer remained in Venice for over a year, making a number of paintings for the German merchant community, before returning to his workshop in Nuremberg, where he was mainly based until his death in 1528.

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

Burkhard of Speyer

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

The Holy Family

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

The Prodigal Son

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

The Bath House

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

Pupila Augusta

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

The Sea Monster

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

A greyhound

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

St Eustace

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

A Knight, Death and the Devil

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

St Jerome in his study

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

A rhinoceros

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

St Anthony

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

Willibald Pirckheimer

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

Philip Melanchthon

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

Desiderius Erasmus

Michel Haussner (1573-c. 1638)

Standing cup and cover

Probably designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-52) after Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) for Rundell, Bridge & Rundell

The Dürer Cup

Friedrich Hillebrandt

Cup and cover

Adriaen de Vries (c. 1556-1626)

Theseus and Antiope