DURER. Atm:Fa-HT (1471-1528). A German painter. engraver. and designer of the Franconian school, the greatest master, all things considered, of the German Renaissance. Ile was born at Nuremberg. May •.1, 1471, the third of a family of eighteen children. His father, a goldsmith. was of Hungarian descent. and had come to Nuremberg in 1155. The hid worked with his father at the goldsmith's trade, and his early talent for design is shown in a clever drawing of himself at the age of thirteen, in the Albertina Collection. Vienna, and in a pen draw ing of the "Madonna with Two Angels" (1485) in the \Museum of Berlin. He was apprenticed in 146'6 to the painter Wohlgemuth, and studied with him three and It half years. In 1490 he entered upon his travels. visiting various Ger man towns, among which were Colmar and Basel, and probably also visiting Veniee. In 1494 he returned to Nuremberg and married Agnes Frey, the beautiful daughter of a cultured merchant. She was probably a good wife, and not the Xantippe she was reputed to be, thanks to the pique of Diirer's friend Pirkheimer. In 1497 Mirer opened a studio of his own at Nurem berg, and figured henceforth as an independent master.
The work executed up to the time of his visit to Venice. in 1505, belongs tc his first period. His early engravings and drawings show the influence of Mantegna, and also that he probably had some opportunity of studying the antique. He was also influenced by Jaeopo dei Barbari, a Venetian artist then residint, in Nuremberg, who taught him anatomy and ideal proportions. Ili, religious subjects were chiefly altar-pieces, desi?med by himself, hut mostly executed by his ',intik, according to the custom of German paint ers of the day. The earliest is in the Dresden Gallery. and represents the "Virgin Adoring the Sleeping C'hrist-Child.'' Another. the Baumgar ten altar (Munich) , portrays the "Nativity," and the figures of the 'donors' in knightly armor. Both of these are, for the most part, by Piker himself. The best of these religious subjects of the first period is the "Adoration of the Magi," painted in 1504 for Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, but now in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence. It is well composed. and enriched
by charming landscape. with good perspective. The Virgin is fair-haired and German, and the kings are dignified and well-modeled figures, with fine heads.
The portraits of this period were executed without the assistance of his pupils, and are distinguished for strength and character. There are two interesting portraits of Diirer's father— one in the Vflizi, executed before his "Wander jahre." in and the other at Sion House, London, done in 1497. Among the very best of his portraits are two of himself. That of 1498, of which the original is in SNTadrid (the Florence example being a copy of a repliea ). shows a youth of noble features, with long fair hair, and the line figure for which he was cele brated. In the more mature, full-face por trait of 1500 Munieh), the heautiful ring lets are even more luxuriant, and the head is Christ-like in its refinement and dignity. Among his other portraits of this period are two of "Katharine Fiirleger" ( Frankfort), of Mans Tueher and his wife (1499, Weimar), of Oswald Krell (1499, Munieh), and of Frederick the Wise (Berlin).
The Venetian journey of 1505 caused a change in Diirer's art. Before this time his work was angular and ,tor, like that of the German school. The study of I. he antique and of the works of Venetian masters relined his sense of form and gave him a larger view of are; but he never lost a jot of his individuality, remaining thoroughly realist and German. He WaS especially influ enced by Giovanni Bellini. whom he considered the greatest of painters, and who proved a good friend. The other Venetian painters viewed him with curiosity and envy. but the nobility honored him, and before lie left Venice the Venetian Coun cil him an annual pension of 200 dwats to remain. Ile also visited Bologna and Fer rara, and was on his tray to Padua to see Man tegna, whom he much honored, but turned back on news of the death of that master. arriving at Nuremberg late in 1507.