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Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) is justifiably regarded as the greatest German Renaissance artist, for, as a young Goethe claimed, Durer "when one

Illustrations by Albrecht Durer

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''The Engraved Passion''

 

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Joachim Camerarius' Foreword to the Latin edition of Durer's "Doctrine of Proportion"

Nature had given him a body of handsome make and stature, suitable to the beautiful spirit which it contained. He had an alert head, brilliant eyes, a fine and powerful nose; his

neck was slightly too long, his chest broad, his body slim, his thin sinewy, his legs stalwart. His fingers were so shapely that none more beautiful can ever have been seen. But

there was such a music and charm in his utterance that his listeners could not but be sorry when he ceased to speak. His soul was filled with ardent desire for all that was

honourable in manners and conduct and he set such an example that he was deservedly esteemed a man of the highest excellence. For all that, he was not stern or sullen, nor

of a displeasing seriousness; on the contrary, whatever tends to amenity and cheerfulness, without conflicting with honour and rectitude, he had cultivated himself throughout his

life and still approved in his old age - as is proved by the writing which he left on gymnastics and on music.

But nature had fashioned him beyond all else for a painter, wherefore he gave himself up to the study of that art with all his might, and was bent on making himself acquainted

with the works of famous painters in every country and on learning their theory and practice and making his own so much of it as he thought good. It is the perfect justice that we

admire Albrecht as the most zealous upholder of purity and good morals and as a man who let it be known through the grandeur of his paintings that he was conscious of his

power, while even his less important works are by no means to be despised. We find in them not a line unconsidered or ill-drawn, not a dot superfluous.

What shall I say of the firmness and sureness of his hand? One could almost swear that he had used rule and compass for what he had drawn just with the brush, the pencil or

the pen and no other assistance - to the amazement of all beholders. How can I tell of the close correspondence between hand and creative spirit which he displayed when he

would draw on paper the counterfeit of anything whatsoever? It will, no doubt, appear incredible to those who read my words hereafter that he sometimes began a drawing of a

composition or of a body in different places, wide apart, which yet, when he came to connect them, united so perfectly that nothing more coherent could be imagined. With the

like readiness, he carried out the most delicate things on canvas or panel with the brush without a preliminary drawing - and did so without a fault, or rather so as to win the

highest praise for it all. This was most admired by the most famous painters, since they best understood the feat and appreciated its difficulty.

High as Albrecht stood, his great and lofty spirit was ever craving for some still higher perfection. If there was anything at all in this man which resembled a fault, it was his

unbounded industry and the keen self-criticism which hardly did justice to his own achievements.

There is nothing impure, nothing unworthy, in his works; for the thought of his chaste mind shrank from all such things. How worthy was the artist of his great success!

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