About the Artist

Durer learned goldsmithing from his father. In 1486 he began studying under Michael Wolgemut, who introduced him to Dutch art and the paintings of Martin Schongauer. He received definitive inspiration from his journey to Italy in 1494 and 1506, as well from a trip to Holland in 1520. He studied the southern approach to interpreting space and body forms, as well as its colour composition, in which he was particularly influenced by Andrea Mantegna and the Bellinis. He thus became the most important intermediary between the art of southern and northern Europe, and was simultaneously able to construct a basis for the German High Renaissance. The detailed topographical rendering of his landscapes also served as models for the painters who succeeded him. Durer, who maintained contact with humanist circles in Nuremburg, also wrote essays in art theory. The artist's major works included The Adoration of the Magi, 1504, All Saints Picture 1511 and Portrait Maximilian I, 1519.