About the Book
Memoirs of Journeys to Venice and the Low Countries
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was probably the greatest
graphical artist of the Northern Renaissance. He is the
first to have elevated the self-portrait to a high art form,
and was known for his fascination with animals, which form
the subjects of many of his graphical works. He reveled in
portraying men of learning and/or high stature as well as
peasants, believing that portraits of the latter could be as
instructive as those of the former. His marriage to his
wife Agnes was childless and banal, apparently because Dürer
was too preoccupied with intellectual matters to be much
interested in romantic pursuits.
In the letters below, this unusually modern thinker
demonstrates his noble, righteous utilitarian personal
philosophy, and meticulously records his personal and travel
expenses, while journeying throughout Venice and various
other European cities and divided German states. Numerous
kings and laypeople sought to meet and host him, since he
was renowned and loved as a painter while still alive. He
comments on Martin Luther, Erasmus of Rotterdam and
painting, and demonstrates his curious, inquiring nature. He
also describes his visit to Zeeland to see a beached whale,
which washed away before he got there; but during this
visit, Dürer may have caught the disease from which he may
have died several years later. Like Rembrandt, he enjoyed
collecting things, and demonstrates this in his letters.
About the Author
Albrecht Dürer, 1471-1528
German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His watercolours mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, while his ambitious woodcuts revolutionized the potential of that medium. Dürer's introduction of classical motifs into Northern art, through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists, have secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance. This is reinforced by his theoretical treatise which involve principles of mathematics, perspective and ideal proportions. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Renaissance in Northern Europe ever since.
