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.
The Prodigal Son among the Swine
1497-98 Pen, 217 x 219 mm British Museum, London The sheet, which is cut at top and bottom, is a preliminary drawing for the (also undated) copperplate engraving, which may be assigned to 1497-98. In the engraving the houses were brought lower, the figures were brought closer together, and the best pig (the one with its feet in the trough) was omitted. The praying swineherd, whose bodily articulation is not easily discernible even in the drawing (the springing of the left leg!) became more unclear in the engraving. Such cases are important for the proper evaluation of the more mature master's efforts for complete clarity of representation.Artist:D?RER, Albrecht Title: The Prodigal Son among the Swine Painted in 1501-1550 , German - - graphics : religious