Dürer is seen as the archetypal Renaissance artist of Northern Europe. He had unique skills of observation, was a master narrator and a superb technician. He visited Italy, and added interest in proportion and perspective to his Northern taste for surface detail.
He was a polymath - a writer and theoretician as well as a painter and graphic artist. Himself influenced by the work of Mantegna, Leonardo and Giovanni Bellini, he in turn influenced many Italian artists through his prints.
Albrecht Dürer
1471 - 1528
Paintings by Albrecht Dürer
This small double-sided painting was most probably made for private worship. The front shows Saint Jerome kneeling in front of a crucifix wedged into the stump of a tree. He beats his chest with a rock in empathy with Christ’s Passion (his torture and death at the Crucifixion). The lion resting b...
Not on display
Workshop of Albrecht Dürer
The Virgin Mary breastfeeds the infant Christ in a walled garden surrounded by flowers. God the Father, a small figure radiating light, appears in the sky above. The image of the Virgin and Christ Child in a garden was derived from the poetic imagery of the Song of Solomon, a book of the Old Test...
Not on display
After Albrecht Dürer
This portrait of Dürer’s father, who is identifiable by the inscription, was given as a gift to King Charles I of England in 1636. When Charles was executed in 1649, it was sold. It eventually entered the National Gallery’s collection in the early twentieth century.There are four versions of the...
Not on display