Self-portrait at the age of 28

Albrecht Dürer was giant of his era, and not shy of making that patently clear.

We only have to look at his many self-portraits to see the regard in which he held himself. Of course, the recognition of his greatness has grown over the centuries, to reach a far higher prominence than even he could have imagined.

Before Dürer (1471-1528), artists rarely depicted themselves as the subject of their own paintings, and if they ever did, they kept the image anonymous. Occasionally a portrayal of their likeness would be included as a member of a crowd, or side-lined in the background.

When confident young Albrecht was just 13 years old he painted his first self-portrait. During his career he pictured himself multiple times, and through these works you can see him growing more assured and genteel, gaining in both stature and elegance.

He saw himself as a visionary, perhaps understandably so when the most illustrious chronicler of the Italian Renaissance, Vasari, showered him with praise. He exalted Dürer to the heights, declaring that ‘designers and painters all over Europe have availed themselves of the vast abundance of his beautiful fantasies and inventions’.

With his extraordinary Self-Portrait at the age of 28, from 1500, viewers at the time would have been struck by the correlation between this image and those of Christ.

Dürer was openly influenced by the Renaissance masters Mantegna, da Vinci and Bellini, and in this work he employs Bellini’s unequivocal sensuality which the Venetian had brought to his painting of the dead Christ.

Presenting himself in a similar directly confrontational pose, his monumental presence was one that had previously been reserved for renditions of Jesus. To some observers, even Dürer’s hand could be interpreted as if in blessing.

Here Dürer is boldly suggesting that his artistry was a gift from the Creator, and that he was far more than merely an artisan, as painters were often positioned. It is clear that he considered himself on a higher plane. Albrecht did not choose to portray himself as a simple German craftsman, but rather dressed himself in fur at a time when dress codes were strict – they signalled your station in life.

To add to the biblical connotations, his hair is seen long and flowing.

On his left, the painting is inscribed: ‘Thus I, Albrecht Dürer from Nuremburg, painted myself with indelible colours at the age of twenty-eight years.’

He was born as one of at least fourteen siblings in 1471, when Nuremberg was one of the leading artistic and commercial centres of Europe. Before long Dürer was recognised as a polymath, who excelled as a writer, theoretician, painter and graphic artist. By his mid-twenties he had established his reputation and influence across the continent.

However, his outstanding contribution was undoubtedly to printmaking. Dürer had apprenticed with his father, a goldsmith, and then with a local painter whose workshop produced woodcut illustrations for important books and publications.

Dürer’s father was an accomplished and prosperous, but his uncle was one of the most successful publishers in Germany, owning twenty-four printing-presses and the renowned Nuremberg Chronicle. This publication contained an unprecedented number of woodcut illustrations which Dürer is identified as having worked on.

The young man revolutionised printmaking, and elevated it from a mere craft to take its place as an independent art form. His innovations led to an expansion of the medium’s tonal range, which transformed it from its somewhat crude beginnings to an elevated, dramatic new platform for artists.

More than any other northern European artist, Dürer was obsessed by the art and theory that was emerging in Italy. He visited Venice and Florence twice and was consumed with studying the works of the Renaissance in painstaking detail.

As he developed his interest in portraying the human form convincingly, the revolutionary aims of the outstanding Italian artists stuck with him. He was transfixed, and theorised extensively on linear perspective and anatomical rendering.

Dürer wrote Four Books on Human Proportion on the subject, as well as a manual for students as an introduction to geometric theory.

The widely regarded achievements of this remarkable young man caught the attention of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, the most prominent figure in German society. Durer became his official court artist and was entrusted to design and execute multiple projects.

He would also paint portraits of some of Europe’s most highly regarded theologians and scholars, as well as altarpieces and religious works.

Dürer was also admired for his skills at observation. With his Young Hare, one of the pinnacles of early natural studies, he scientifically captured the animal with completely lifelike accuracy, his delicate use of tiny paint strokes revealing details of the fur, even suggesting the animal’s expression.

During 1513 and 1514 Dürer created his magnificent series of his copperplate engravings including The Knight, Death and the Devil, Melancholia, St. Jerome in His Study. These works alone have generated scrutiny and literary debate over hundreds of years, analysing their complex, enigmatic iconography.

It is clear that Dürer wanted to raise the intensity of engraving to its highest level, able to evoke the sense of classical perfection seen in the most revered paintings. In the same period Dürer produced his most highly accomplished drawing, an expressively sublime portrait of his mother.

After a trip to the Netherlands to secure new patrons following the death of Maximillian I, he was well received, but returned home after a year having succumbed to an undetermined illness, which afflicted him for the rest of his life.

Painting became difficult, but Dürer was able to continue his writings on geometric perspective and proportion, and some of these were published as instructive guides after his death in 1528.

His loss was deeply mourned in artistic circles across Europe, particularly in Italy where he was viewed as one of the titans of the Renaissance.

His epitaph proclaimed: Whatever was immortal about Albrecht Dürer lies beneath this mound.