b.May 21, 1471, Imperial Free City of Nernberg [Germany] d.April 6, 1528, Nernberg Albrecht Durer (May 21, 1471 ?C April 6, 1528) was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His still-famous works include the Apocalypse woodcuts, Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), Saint Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514), which has been the subject of extensive analysis and interpretation. His watercolours mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, while his ambitious woodcuts revolutionized the potential of that medium. D??rer 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.
St George on Horseback
1505 (completed 1508) Engraving, 110 x 86 mm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The last work before D?rer's sudden departure on a second trip to Venice in order to escape the Great Plague. This engraving was probably almost complete because the date 1505 had already been engraved in the plate. It was subsequently corrected to read 1508. The background is deliberately reduced in scale for sake of contrast and any indication of a landscape is omitted. D?rer in this engraving sought to combine the monumentality of The Large Horse with the elegance of The Small Horse. Pictured from behind, this unusual stance effectively conveys a feeling of pause before the saintly warrior forges ahead to further defend the Faith. It was also used in the Ober St. Veit Altarpiece, which was completed in D?rer's workshop during his absence in Italy.Artist:D?RER, Albrecht Title: St George on Horseback Painted in 1501-1550 , German - - graphics : religious