Dürer was born in Nuremberg, Germany, the son of a prosperous goldsmith. His early training was in his father’s workshop and a self-portrait, drawn when he was 13, reveals his precocious talent. By the age of 15, he was an apprentice in the workshop of Michael Wolgemut (1434–1519), the leading painter and printmaker in Nuremberg at the time. In 1490, he left Nuremberg to travel, visiting Cologne and then the Netherlands. Four years later, he went to Italy, where he met Bellini in Venice and also saw the work of Mantegna and Antonio del Pollaiuolo (c.1432–98). Fascinated by the Italian styles and techniques, when he returned to Germany he established his own workshop and infused his northern Renaissance style (non-idealized, highly realistic and detailed) with the sophisticated and fluid handling of color and application of perspective he had seen.
Inspired by the prestige bestowed on Italian artists, Dürer became one of the first artists of northern Europe to publicize himself—and as an intellectual more than a craftsman. Mixing with the scholars of the day more than other artisans, he intensified his studies of geometry and mathematics and began marketing himself through his prints, which often featured strong expression, powerful emotion and busy compositions. No artist before him had achieved such fluidity in printed images. By 1497, through his woodcuts and engravings, he was employing someone to deal with the sale of his prints outside Germany and within a few years he was famed across Europe. The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I appointed Dürer as his artistic adviser, although Dürer’s shrewd and unprecedented business dealings meant that he did not have to rely on wealthy patrons.
Dürer also painted landscapes, portraits, altarpieces, religious works and scenes from daily life, all of which showed his fascination with the spirit and style of Italian humanism. Around 1500, he began to experiment with the problem of combining mathematically calculated proportions and accurate perspective with ideal beauty. Although his work incorporated many of the elements that he had admired in Italy, in turn his work eventually influenced the art of the Italian Renaissance.
In 1498, Dürer published a book of woodcuts called the Apocalypse. The first book to be printed entirely by an artist, it was a bestseller. In later life, he became a follower of the Protestant reformer Martin Luther, which can be sensed in the austerity of style and subjects in his religious works after 1520. His last years were mainly devoted to theoretical and scientific writings and illustrations.
Key Works
The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin c.1496 ALTE PINAKOTHEK, MUNICH, GERMANY
Self-Portrait at 28 1500, ALTE PINAKOTHEK, MUNICH, GERMANY
The Altarpiece of the Rose Garlands 1506, NARODNI GALERIE, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
Portrait of Dürer’s Mother 1514, KUPFERSTICHKABINETT, BERLIN, GERMANY
St. Jerome 1521, MUSEU NACIONAL DE ARTE ANTIGA, LISBON, PORTUGAL
MICHELANGELO
1475–1564 • HIGH RENAISSANCE
The Expulsion from Paradise (detail of Sistine Chapel ceiling)
1509–10 FRESCO
APPROXIMATELY 280 × 570 CM (110¼ × 224½ IN)
SISTINE CHAPEL, VATICAN CITY
Michelangelo completed the Sistine Chapel ceiling over four years, painting practically single-handedly in an awkward position for hours each day. The central theme is stories from the Book of Genesis, and this shows Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden. Adam shields his eyes from the disgrace, while Eve seemingly hides her face in shame. Preferring sculpture to painting, Michelangelo created the figures with strong tonal modeling.
Possibly the most influential artist in history, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, commonly known as Michelangelo, was a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci with a career that lasted for more than 70 years. A prolific sculptor, painter and architect, he was notoriously resolute and devoted to his art and his genius was praised consistently from the start of his unequaled career.
Raised in Florence, at the age of 13 Michelangelo entered the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio where, for three years, he learned fresco painting techniques. He also made studies of frescoes by Giotto and Masaccio and of sculptures by Donatello. Within a year, he became a guest of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the powerful ruler of Florence, in the Medici palace. There he mixed with some of the greatest scholars of the day, learning from sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni (c.1434/40–91) and from the Medici collection of antique sculpture.
With the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici in 1492, and unrest in Florence, Michelangelo left for Bologna and then Rome, where newly unearthed classical statues and ancient ruins inspired his first large-scale sculptures. One of these was Pietà, created for St. Peter’s in Rome. A tragically expressive statue of a full-grown Christ lying dead in his mother’s lap, it secured Michelangelo’s reputation. He returned to Florence, commissioned to work on an old block of marble that a previous sculptor had abandoned, to create a symbol of the new Republic of Florence. The result was a gigantic naked statue of the biblical character David, which demonstrated a new understanding of anatomy. David was put outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the Florentine seat of government, and Michelangelo was nicknamed “Il Divino” or “The Divine One.”
In 1505, Michelangelo was summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II to make his tomb. For over a year, he designed the monument and selected and transported marble from the quarries. Suddenly, the Pope stopped him working on the tomb in favor of painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Reluctantly, Michelangelo took up the project. Working largely on his own for four years, he covered the vast barrel-vaulted ceiling with nearly 350 life-sized figures, including prophets and sibyls, decorative medallions, slaves—or what Michelangelo called ignudi (nude figures)—and biblical scenes. Later, he painted The Last Judgment, a fresco on the altar wall of the chapel.
Just after the ceiling frescoes were completed, in 1513, Pope Julius died, his tomb barely started. For many years, Michelangelo worked intermittently on it, frustrated by delays and disagreements. Finally, he completed a pared-down version of the original tomb in 1545. For the rest of his life, he worked for successive popes and other powerful patrons, producing extraordinary works that reflected his spiritual beliefs, classical influences and brilliant imagination. In addition to sculpture and painting, from 1546 he was appointed chief architect by the Pope to complete the rebuilding of St. Peter’s in Rome. He designed the vast building, including the cathedral’s great dome, which remained unfinished when he died.
Key Works
Pietà 1499, ST PETER’S, VATICAN CITY
David 1501–4, GALLERIA DELL’ACCADEMIA, FLORENCE, ITALY
Doni Tondo—The Holy Family with St. John the Baptist c.1504–6, GALLERIA DEGLI UFFIZI, FLORENCE, ITALY
Tomb of Lorenzo de’ Medici 1526–31, MEDICI CHAPEL, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE, ITALY
The Last Judgment 1534–41, SISTINE CHAPEL, VATICAN CITY
RAPHAEL
1483–1520 • HIGH RENAISSANCE
The School of Athens