Albrecht Dürer: Northern Renaissance Art

One of the most notable and most influential artists that came out of the time of Northern Renaissance art was undoubtedly the artist by the name Albrecht Dürer. Albrecht was born in the city of Nuremberg, Germany in the late fifteenth century. The city of Nuremberg also happened to be one of the biggest artistic hubs in Europe during the time of the Renaissance. Albrecht grew up working as a goldsmith following in the footsteps of his father, but he was said to have had a few local artists that he looked up to while growing up. Because of these influences, Albrecht fell in love with art at an early age and ended up creating a few well-known pieces in his early teen years (Wisse, Jacob). Albrecht Dürer had an extremely wide range of mediums and subject matters that he enjoyed working …show more content…
As far as his favorite mediums goes, his most used were paintings, copper engravings, and woodcuts. When it came to his favorite subject matter, Albrecht had a large range from portraits, self-portraits, altarpieces, and a wide variety of religious pieces. In an article about one of Albrecht’s most popular paintings, Four Apostles, the author states that “Dürer, shared with Leonardo da Vinci the quest for an art that would be ‘universal’—one that constructs representations of all forms in nature on the basis of a profound understanding of natural philosophy in all its relevant facets” (Kemp, Martin). The figures in most of Albrecht’s paintings were painted in a way that they expressed different facets of philosophies. Albrecht Dürer had a very significant impact on art and especially in the Northern Renaissance. By the time that Albrecht passed away, he created well over one thousand pieces of art, most being considered great masterpieces. In one book that