DUR A NTA, a genus of plants of the class Didyna mia, and order Angiospermia. See BOTANY, p. 2 t9.
DURElt, ALIIEWV, a celebrated Gi !loan painter and engraver, was born at Nuremberg-, A. D. 1471. lo the shop of his father, who was a goldsmith, he made his first essays with the pencil ; but was taught by an in. ferior artist named Martin Utilise, to mahage colours, and engrave upon copper. When he was about 26 years of age, he began to exhibit some of his works to the public ; and soon acquired great celebrity by his engravings. Ile was one or the lirst improvers ul that art, which he carried to a high degree of perfection; and, excepting his contemporary Michael Angelo Buo naroti, he had no equal during his life. Ile possess ed an inexhaustible fund of designs ; and, in order to execute them more expeditiously, he engraved many upon wood. Ilis prints arc, of consequence, extremely numerous, and were rapidly bought up as soon as they were thrown off. Besides the excellence c,f the execu tion and design, they possess a recommendation, which was not common among the productions of those times, namely, that they are entirely free from obscene le presentations. One of his best engravings is that of St Eustachius kneeling before a stag, which has a crucifix between its horns; and the principal merit of this piece is supposed to consist in the beauty and variety of at titudes imparted to the dogs. He did not produce many paintings; and few of them are now to be seen, except in the more rare collections, or in toe palaces of princes.
One of the most eminent of these is his painting of Adam and Eve in the palace of Prague, which Gaspar Velius has celebrated in the following couplet : He was well skilled also in statuary, architecture, optics, and geometry ; and wrote several treatises upon these subjects, which were published after his death, after having been translated from the original German into the Latin language. lie enjoyed the patronage and esteem of the Emperor Maximilian, who bestowed upon him a handsome pension, with letters of nobility; and he continued to experience the liberality of Charles V. and of his brother Ferdinand, king of Hungary. lie was for many years the chief magistrate of his na tive city ; and, being in easy circumstances, practised his art more as an amusement than a profession. He lived, however, in a very frugal style, and with all the appearance of poverty rather than of wealth ; but was a man of cheerful dispositions, and highly agreeable in conversation. Distinguished, in short, by the mild vir tue of his character, as well as by the extent of his genius, he was highly respected during his life ; and died at Nuremberg in 1528, where his friend and pa tron Pirckheimer, has honoured his memory with a suit able sepulchral inscription. See Melchior Adam in vi tis Philos. German ; Vasari vite de Pittori ; Sandrart, Pilkihgton, Sec. (q)