Albrecht Dürer

Dürer, Albrecht (1471–1528), German painter and engraver. He introduced the Italian Renaissance outlook and style to Germany, tempering it with the Gothic tradition. Dürer visited Venice (1494–95 and 1505–07) and was influenced by Jacopo Bellini, Andrea Mantegna, and Leonardo da Vinci. He became court painter to the emperors Maximilian I (1512) and Charles V (1520). Dürer produced a huge output of masterly, vividly detailed drawings, engravings, woodcuts, and paintings. His themes include religious subjects, plant and animal studies, and evocative landscapes in watercolor. His woodcuts include the 16 subjects of The Apocalypse; among his well-known engravings are Death and the Devil and St. Jerome in His Cell; his paintings include Adam and Eve and Four Apostles.

See also: Gothic art and architecture.