Century Art in Northern Europe - Option #1

            Albrecht Dürer is the most widely known and respected artist from the German Renaissance who created a variety of different works that are still highly revered today. Being from Nuremberg Dürer had the freedom to create an array of different works seeing as there was no guild system. When looking at the artwork produced by Dürer, such as his self-portrait from 1500, it is apparent that he was greatly influenced by Italian and early northern European art.

            Due to Dürer’s travels he gained a large amount of knowledge on different stylistic characteristics that were popular in areas such as Italy at the time. In his Self Portrait we can see several Italian influences. When first looking at the portrait we can see that it has a triangular composition, which is often seen in art works from the High Renaissance. The portrait’s triangular composition gives a sense of balance and harmony within in the artwork. Again, we often see balance, harmony, as well as perfection from the Italian’s in the High Renaissance.

            However, Albrecht Dürer’s Self Portrait has a large number of stylistic characteristics from early northern European art. When looking at Dürer’s Self Portrait it can be said that he draws a great amount of influence from early northern European traditions. For example, we can see a great interest in rich textures, small details, naturalism, and luminous colors. The interest in textures can be seen in the realistic depiction of hair, the luminous quality of his skin, the softness in his jacket, as well as the fur collar of his jacket. Dürer’s interest in small details can be seen in the individual hairs growing off his chin, the depiction of veins in his hand, and the fur that is lining the collar of his jacket. When looking at this self-portrait of Dürer it is obvious that there is an extreme naturalism to the painting. When looking closely at the painting one can see that Albrecht’s right eye has a slight downward sag to it with a hint of discoloration underneath it. Rather than making himself look idealized and as perfect as possible he made himself look very naturalistic and as true to life as possible. Naturalism is something that is seen over and over in early northern European art. Something that can’t go unnoticed in this painting is the use of oil paints that create a luminous quality. We can see in his skin that it has a healthy glow to it, and his eyes appear to also have a gloss or wetness to them created by the oil paints. The luminous quality of the paint gives the painting a resplendent and naturalistic appearance. All of these qualities are characteristics that are often found in early northern European art.

            After viewing Albrecht Dürer’s self  portrait and other works of art produced by Dürer it is easy to see that he was greatly influenced by both Italian and early northern European artistic traditions. He pulls stylistic characteristics from both and creates absolutely unforgettable pieces of art.