Albrecht Durer

In this day and age, many are highly conscious of how they present themselves to society. Some choose to focus highly on the influence in self-image, and in turn go through many alterations in order to enhance their appearances in ways they seem fit. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those that are fine with their untouched appearances and show great amounts of confidence when out in public. In the days of the Renaissance era, the artist Albrecht Durer captures this latter idea of self-confidence in his work Self-Portrait, finished in the year 1500. Durer’s Self-Portrait is an intimidating piece of artwork, with respect to the background and appearance of Durer himself.
First, the background of Durer’s Self-Portrait amplifies the intimidation of Durer’s figure. The backdrop is solemn darkness, with few notable details to speak of. This gives the portrait a dark tone, as the gloomy background compliments Durer’s serious expression and glare. Another …show more content…
Durer’s expression is sincere and his stare focused directly on the viewer. He does not care what the viewer thinks of his appearance. No matter if Durer was of royalty or of the poor, he is very confident of how he looks, with hardly any emotion or sensitivity in his face blocking him. A very strange observation would also be his hand near his chest. It is in a position much like one a person would make when blessing someone. Similar to that, Durer’s portrait is most well-known for its resemblance to depictions of Jesus Christ at the time. Durer painted himself to be on a level that would be perceived as godlike at the time, making his image more intimidating via the “divinity” the portrait has bestowed upon him. It is not uncommon, and often encouraged for someone to feel confidence towards their image, but it becomes questionable when that person believes his or her image to have the same influence as