Eternal colors: Dürer's self-portrait. The last self-portraits of Albrecht Dürer

self-portrait,

Year of creation: 1500.

Wood, oil.

Original size: 67×49 cm.

Alte Pinakothek, Munich / Selbstbildnis im Pelzrock, 1500. Öl auf Holz. 67 × 49 cm. Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Description of the painting by Albrecht Durer “Self-portrait”

This wonderful picture was kept away from prying eyes for a very long time. The family did not want to show it to the general public. It was written full face, somewhere in 1500. It was an innovation. Previously, portraits were depicted in a semi-profile, in profile. In this form, as Dürer painted, only images related to religion could be depicted. And in our time, this self-portrait is very popular and famous.

"Self-portrait" or in another way it is called "Self-portrait in clothes trimmed with fur" famous painting. It depicts a young man. Not more than 30 years of age. With long wavy hair, beard and mustache. Hair, as if wound before posing on curlers. Lips young man beautiful. The lower part of the lip is slightly plump. A smart look, beautiful but tired eyes, white delicate hands testify to a face similar to Jesus Christ. One of the hands rests on the collar of the dressing gown. This is the artist himself. Dressed in chic rich clothes, a collar trimmed with fur.

On both sides, there are some notes on the picture. Usually, these were done at that time on icons. The similarity of the artist with the appearance of the savior is obvious. The classic thin face, beard and mustache are reminiscent of Jesus.

With his portrait, the artist wanted to show a man of the new time. Compare it to God. He wanted to leave his face in his youth on the canvas. Death should not touch him, he wanted to make a self-portrait for the ages. And he did great at it. The paint should not fade over the years. Such paintings were very characteristic of the era of that time. The artist thus left an unimaginable mark on his appearance for all generations. He achieved what he wanted and what he spoke about to his contemporaries. Proclaimed the ideal of man.

The first third of the 16th century is the heyday of portraiture in Germany. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) is undoubtedly the founder of the Renaissance portrait in its "humanistic" iconography.

The self-portrait of 1500 is one of the most significant works of Albrecht Dürer, marking his full creative maturity. All elements of naive narrative disappear from this portrait; it does not contain any attributes, details of the situation, nothing secondary, distracting the viewer's attention from the image of a person. The image is based on the desire for generalization of the image, orderliness, external and internal balance.

However, the greatest creative honesty of Dürer and the sincerity that never betrays him make him add a touch of anxiety and anxiety to this image. A slight wrinkle between the eyebrows, concentration and an accentuated seriousness of the expression give the face a touch of subtle sadness. Restless are the full dynamics of the fractionally curly strands of hair framing the face; thin expressive fingers seem to move nervously, sorting through the fur of the collar.

Dürer attached special importance to this portrait. He not only marked it with his monogram, but provided it with a Latin inscription: "I, Albrecht Dürer, a Nuremberger, painted myself in such eternal colors ..." The letters are written in gold paint, they echo the golden flashes in the hair and emphasize the solemnity of the portrait.

Look at this portrait. Do you see Christ? And here it is not. This is a self-portrait German artist Albrecht Dürer 1500. It would seem that for an unheard-of impudence for the beginning of the 16th century, when people were depicted in portraits in half-profile or in profile. What does Dürer want to tell us by this?
Dürer is one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, the German Leonardo da Vinci. He is one of 18 (!) children of the jeweler. Already at the age of 13, his father trusted him to draw sketches for future jewelry. Dürer is not only a versatile painter: he painted in oils, painted engravings, made stained glass windows. He left many works on mathematics and astrology. And now, a self-portrait in the image of Christ.
Dürer was an ardent Christian. This self-portrait is the crowning achievement of his philosophical reflections on the place of man in this world. He puts himself on a par with God, because he, Dürer, is also a creator. And it is the duty of every Christian to become like Jesus Christ.
You can see this self-portrait in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

The titan of the Western European Renaissance, the genius of the Renaissance Albrecht Dürer was one of the brightest stars in the sky German painting. The greatest artist of the turn of the XV-XVI centuries became famous for his engravings on wood and copper; landscapes made in watercolor and gouache, realistic living portraits. He became the first art theorist in history. Being a diversified person, Albrecht Dürer created not just outstanding works, but intellectual masterpieces. Among them is the engraving "Melancholia" with its magic square.

The brilliant artist became famous for his self-portraits, which contained both skill and the author's unique idea. During his lifetime, Albrecht Dürer created at least 50 such works, but few have survived to this day. What is remarkable about Dürer's self-portraits? Why do they still make enthusiastic admirers of his work tremble?

Self-portraits as a biography of Albrecht Dürer

Biographers say that the master Albrecht Dürer was an extremely attractive young man, and the love of self-portraits was partly due to a vain desire to please people. However, this was not their true purpose. Dürer's self-portraits are a reflection of his inner peace and views on art, the history of the evolution of the intellect and the development of artistic taste. On them you can trace the entire life of the artist. Each of its stages is a new work, strikingly different from the previous one. Dürer made the self-portrait a separate genre in fine arts, and his work as a whole has become a living biography of the artist. They can sometimes tell more than any book.

The first self-portrait of the great artist

The first self-portrait of Albrecht Dürer was created in 1484. Then the artist was only thirteen years old, but he already knew how to correctly convey the proportions and perfectly mastered the silver pin. They young Albrecht for the first time deduced the contours of his face. This tool leaves a silvery trail on primed paper. Over time, it acquires a brown tint. It is almost impossible to erase it from the sheet without damaging the soil. Thirteen-year-old Albrecht, however, painted a portrait of them, the creation of which would have caused difficulties even for an experienced artist of that time.

In the picture, the young Dürer looks thoughtful and at the same time strict. His gaze is filled with sadness and determination. The hand gesture speaks of an irreconcilable desire to achieve one's goal - to become a great master of one's craft. One day Albrecht's father saw his son's work. Dürer's first self-portrait impressed the talented jeweler. The father always wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, but appreciating the work of Albrecht, he sent him to study at the studio of the artist Michael Wolgemuth. There, young Dürer learned the basics of painting and engraving.

Early self-portrait in pen

At the end of the training, each artist, according to the tradition of that time, went on a journey. Traveling, he had to gain experience from masters from distant lands. Albrecht Dürer also followed this path. The self-portrait, written by him during a trip to Europe, was made in a completely different manner. It shows the ability of a young artist to reflect on paper internal state human soul. This time Dürer used a pen, and his mood was different. In the drawing “Self-portrait with a bandage”, Albrecht’s face is full of torment and undisguised pain. It is covered with wrinkles, which make the image more gloomy. The reason for the torment is not known for certain, but there is no doubt that they took place.

Self portrait, 1493

By the end of Albrecht's wanderings, the news of his imminent marriage overtook. Then, in the 15th century, parents themselves chose a couple for their children. Albrecht's father found a bride from a noble Nuremberg family. The young artist did not object to marrying Agnes Frey. There is a point of view that it was on the occasion of such an event that Dürer wrote Self-Portrait with a Thistle. In those days, it was considered the norm that future spouses met right at the wedding, so the young artist decided to give his future wife a special gift.

In the portrait, Albrecht is 22 years old. The young man fixed his eyes on the distance. He is focused and thoughtful. Albrecht's eyes squint a little due to the fact that he worked on the portrait, looking at himself in the mirror. The artist holds a thistle in his hands. He became the subject of controversy between fans of Dürer's work.

Controversy surrounding "Self-Portrait with Thistles"

The equivalent of the word "thistle" in German is männertreu, which literally translates as "male fidelity". This clearly indicates that the self-portrait was intended for Agnes Frey. However, opponents of this point of view argue that the thistle is a symbol of the passion of Christ, and the thorns of the plant personify the torment of Jesus. In addition, Dürer wrote on a self-portrait: "The Almighty manages my affairs." And this also clearly indicates that this picture is an expression of the artist's humility and devotion to God, and not a gift to his future wife. However, only Dürer himself knew the truth.

Italian work, 1498

The next work of master Albrecht in the genre of self-portrait was already made in Italy. The artist always wanted to go to this country and get acquainted with the unique tradition Italian painting. The young wife and her family did not support the idea of ​​travel, but the plague epidemic that swept Nuremberg made the desired trip possible. Durer was struck by the bright riot of colors of Italian landscapes. He depicted nature with incredible clarity for that time. Dürer became the first landscape painter in the history of art. His ideal was now the correct image, corresponding to nature and geometry. The creative atmosphere of Italy helped him to accept himself as an innovative artist. And this is fully reflected in his Italian self-portrait.

It depicts a self-confident person who has realized his vocation, the mission of the creator of the beautiful and the creed of the thinker. That was Dürer. The self-portrait, the description of which makes it possible to judge the changes in his self-consciousness, became one of the most famous works of the artist. Durer is full of dignity on it. His posture is straight, and his gaze expresses confidence. Albrecht is richly dressed. His carefully curled hair falls over his shoulders. And in the background of the self-portrait one can see the Italian landscape - the pure inspiration of the artist.

Four temperaments

Dürer's next work fully reflects his nature as a thinker, as well as his desire for self-knowledge. The self-portrait is dedicated to the Greek doctrine of the four temperaments. According to him, people are divided into melancholic and phlegmatic. On the engraving Men's bath» great artist embodied each type of temperament in an individual person. Durer considered himself a melancholic. An unknown astrologer once told him about this. It can be assumed that it is in this role that he is depicted in the engraving. The artist depicted himself as a flutist entertaining his friends.

"Self-portrait in the image of Christ", 1500

Dürer returned from Italy no longer a timid student, but a master of his craft. At home, Albrecht received many orders that brought him fame. His work was already known outside of his native Nuremberg, and the artist himself put his business on a commercial basis. At the same time, a new century was approaching, the onset of which was to be marked by the end of the world. The tense period of eschatological expectation had a significant impact on Master Albrecht. And in 1500 the most notable work, which Dürer created - "Self-portrait in the image of Christ."

He captured himself from the front, which was an unimaginable boldness in the 16th century. All portraits of that time had one thing in common: ordinary people always portrayed half-faced, and only Jesus was an exception. Dürer became the first artist to violate this unspoken ban. Wavy hair perfect really make it look like Christ. Even the hand, depicted at the bottom of the canvas, is folded in a gesture typical of the holy father. The colors in the picture are subdued. Against a background of black, red, white and brown shades the face of the artist stands out brightly. Dressed in robes trimmed with fur, master Albrecht seemed to compare himself with a creator who creates his own special, mysterious and unique world with a chisel and brush.

Religious self-portraits

Dürer's subsequent self-portraits had a pronounced religious character. The 16th century was full of upheavals associated with the realization of the role of God in the life of an ordinary person. A feasible contribution to this issue was made by Martin Luther, who tried to convey the essence of Christian teaching to people. And Dürer wrote numerous religious compositions. Among them are the Feast of the Rosary and the Adoration of the Holy Trinity. On them, Dürer is not only a master, but also a participant in sacred actions. In this way he paid tribute to devotion to God.

The most candid self-portrait

One of the most controversial and mysterious works of the artist, “Naked Self-Portrait”, bears religious overtones. Albrecht Dürer portrayed himself as Christ the Martyr. This is evidenced by a thin face, an emaciated body, a pose reminiscent of Jesus during the scourging. Even the fold of skin depicted by the artist over the right thigh can have a symbolic meaning. There was one of the wounds received by Christ.

The drawing is made with pen and brush on tinted green paper. Exact time the creation of a self-portrait is unknown, however, based on the age of the artist in the picture, it can be assumed that he painted it in the first decade of the 16th century. It is authentically known that the author kept the work at home and did not present it to the general public. Not a single artist before or after him depicted himself completely naked. The drawing, shocking with its frankness, can hardly be found in publications devoted to art.

The last self-portraits of Albrecht Dürer

Dürer's subsequent self-portraits predicted his imminent death. In the Netherlands, he was struck by a strange ailment, which at that time no one had any idea about. Now historians can only speculate that it was malaria. The artist had problems with the spleen, which he clearly pointed out in the self-portrait “Dürer is Sick” with a yellow spot. He sent this drawing to his doctor and wrote to him short message. It said that the place on which the yellow spot is depicted causes pain. Reflection of the physical condition of the artist and continuation religious theme became "Self-portrait in the image of the suffering Christ." It depicts Dürer, tormented by an unknown illness and spiritual discord, the cause of which was, perhaps, the reformation and the events associated with it.

He soon died, leaving to his descendants the greatest legacy of his time. Dürer's self-portraits, kept in the most famous galleries world, such as the Louvre in Paris and the Prado in Madrid, still amaze with their inner strength and almost mystical beauty.

Albrecht Dürer was the first in the history of German (and, by and large, of all European) painting to paint self-portraits. Considered in chronological order, they are unique story human knowledge of self, nature and God.

The first self-portrait of 13-year-old Dürer

Albrecht Durer. self-portrait

Albrecht Dürer Sr. (1, 2), a Hungarian settler, had a jewelry workshop in Nuremberg and 18 daughters and sons, of whom four survived. The third of the Dürer children, also Albrecht, like his father, from the age of ten spent all day in the workshop. To tell the truth, at first he only watched carefully. I watched how multi-colored stones are set in a frame, becoming part of a ring or necklace; how a twisted ornament of leaves and buds gradually, obeying the father’s chisel, entangles the neck of a silver vase, and a pot-bellied gilded chalice (a church bowl for taking communion) “overgrows” with a vine and clusters. By the age of thirteen, his father had already instructed Albrecht Jr. to prepare sketches for the same necklace, crown or bowl. The third son of the Dürers had a firm hand, an excellent eye and a sense of proportion. His God-fearing father could thank heaven that the family business had good long-term prospects.

Albrecht Durer. double goblet

Albrecht Durer. Imperial crown
Sketches of jewelry made by Dürer already in adulthood.

Once, taking a silver pencil, which is customary for a jeweler's apprentice, which does not allow any corrections, 13-year-old Albrecht, referring to the reflection in the mirror, depicted himself. It turned out to be not easy - all the time looking from the reflection to the paper and back, to keep the same pose and facial expression. It was even more exotic to realize that right now there are three Albrechts in the studio - one in an amalgam of a mirror, the second gradually appears on paper, and the third, concentrating all his spiritual powers, is trying to make the first two coincide as much as possible. He just didn’t draw his magic pencil - he only drew a fragile brush with an outstretched finger, as if pointing at something invisible to us or trying to measure something.

In the right upper corner the inscription was made: “I painted myself in a mirror in 1484 when I was still a child. Albrecht Dürer". In Germany at the end of the 15th century, self-portraits were not accepted. The 13-year-old Dürer could not see any samples, just as he could not assume that once it was thanks to him in European art the genre of self-portrait will be established. With the interest of a naturalist, so characteristic of the Renaissance, Albrecht simply fixed the object that interested him - his own face - and did not try to decorate, heroize or dress up himself (as he would do when he grew up).

“This touching face with childlike plump cheeks and wide open eyes , - describes the first self-portrait of Dürer, art historian Marcel Brion. — Those bulging eyes, like the eyes of a bird of prey, able to look at the sun without blinking. The drawing in this place is somewhat inept. A silver pencil, more suitable for the painstaking accuracy of the goldsmith's sketches, sharply outlines the curve of the eyelids, the glare of the eyeball. The gaze is concentrated and almost hallucinatory, which may be due to some awkwardness of the young draftsman, or perhaps to amazing intuition, which even then was a hallmark of the little Dürer's character. The face is turned three-quarters, revealing a gentle oval of full cheeks, a hooked nose, similar to a beak. There is some indecision and incompleteness in the boy’s face, but the nose and eyes testify to the exceptional individuality of the author, self-confident, master of his soul and destiny.”

Self-portrait with a study of a hand and pillow and a self-portrait with a bandage

Albrecht Durer. Self-portrait with a study of a hand and a pillow (front side of the sheet)

Albrecht Durer. Six pillow studies (reverse side of "Self-portrait with studies of a hand and a pillow")

Albrecht Durer. Self-portrait with bandage
1491

The following graphic self-portraits of Albrecht Dürer that have come down to us were made in 1491-1493. Their author is a little over twenty. Here, not a silver pencil has already been used, but a pen and ink. And Dürer himself is no longer an apprentice jeweler, but an aspiring artist. His father was very sorry about the futile efforts expended on teaching Albrecht "gold and silver craftsmanship", but, seeing the persistence with which his son strives to become an artist, he sent him to study with the painter and carver Michael Wolgemut, after which Dürer went, as it was then taken, on a creative journey. The "years of wandering" during which these self-portraits were executed will make him a true master.

A self-portrait with a sketch of a hand and a pillow, at first glance, seems to be something like a caricature, a friendly caricature of oneself. But most likely no secret meaning there isn't, and it's just a graphical exercise. Dürer “fills his hand”, trains to create full-fledged three-dimensional objects with the help of hatching and analyze how the strokes fix their deformations: on the back of the self-portrait there are 6 differently crumpled pillows.

The subject of Dürer's close attention in self-portraits-studies, along with the face, are the hands. Being an excellent draftsman, Dürer considered the hands to be one of the most significant and interesting objects to study and depict. He never gave a generalized hand, he always carefully worked out the relief of the skin, the smallest lines and wrinkles. A sketch for one of Dürer's altarpieces, Hands of a Prayer/Apostle (1508), for example, is famous as an independent work. By the way, thin brushes with long fingers tapering upwards, which Dürer himself owned, were considered a sign of high spiritual perfection in his time.

In these two youthful portraits, art historians read "concern, agitation, self-doubt." An emotional feature is already obvious in them, which will be preserved in all further self-portraits of the artist: in none of them did he depict himself joyful, or at least with a shadow from a smile. In part, this was a tribute to the pictorial tradition (no one laughs in medieval painting), but in part it reflected the character. Having inherited from his father an inescapable family silence and gloom, Dürer has always remained a complex, intensely thinking nature, alien to self-satisfaction: it is not for nothing that Dürer’s famous engraving “Melancholia” is often called his spiritual self-portrait.

Self portrait with holly

Albrecht Durer. Self-Portrait with a Holly (Self-Portrait with a Thistle)
1493, 56×44 cm

While Durer traveled in the vicinity of the Upper Rhine and improved, getting acquainted with famous artists Germany and sketching views of cities and mountains, his father in Nuremberg betrothed him a bride. About matchmaking as a fait accompli, he informs his unsuspecting son, who was at that moment in Strasbourg, by letter. About the girl Agnes Frei, the father wrote almost nothing to Dürer, but he told a lot about her parents: the future father-in-law Hans Frei, the master of interior fountains, is about to be appointed to Big advice Nuremberg, and the mother-in-law is generally from the patrician (albeit impoverished) Rummel dynasty.

The elder Dürer, who himself came out of the Hungarian grain growers, really wanted to make a good match for Albrecht and therefore demanded that his son finish all his unfinished business and return to Nuremberg, and in the meantime, is he an artist now or who? - write and send for Agnes her own portrait, so that the bride can imagine what her betrothed looks like, whom she had never seen before.

A portrait done in family life Dürer, the role of a sort of “preview”, is considered “Self-portrait with a holly” (1493). It was not written on wood, like most portraits of that time, but on parchment (they admit that it was easier to send the portrait in this form), only in 1840 the image would be transferred to canvas. Dürer is 22 years old here. For the first time in a self-portrait, his task is not to know himself, but to show himself to others, as if to “present” his appearance and personality to the world. And for Dürer, this turns out to be an interesting challenge, to which he responds with special artistic passion. Dürer portrays himself with a defiant, carnival-theatrical elegance: his thin white shirt is tied with mauve cords, the sleeves of his overdress are decorated with slits, and his extravagant red hat looks more like a dahlia flower than a headdress.

Dürer squeezes with his fingers an elegant thorn, the nature and symbolism of which are disputed. In Russian, the name “Self-portrait with a holly” stuck behind the picture, but the plant, which in Russian is called a holly (or holly) blooms and looks a little different. From the point of view of botanists, Dürer holds in his hands Eryngium amethystinum - an amethyst eryngium, it is also called the "blue thistle". According to one version, the devout Dürer points to his "creed" - the crown of thorns of Christ. Another version says that in Germany, in one of the dialects, the name of the eryngium is Männer treu (“male fidelity”), which means that Dürer makes it clear that he is not going to argue with his father and promises Agnes to be faithful husband. The inscription on a dark background My sach die gat / Als es oben schtat is translated as "My deeds are determined from above"(there is also a rhyming translation: "My business is going on, as the sky ordered"). It can also be interpreted as an expression of submission to fate and parental will. But the costume says: “I will do as my father says, but this will not prevent me from being myself and moving along the chosen path”.

Albrecht Durer. Wife Agnes

Albrecht Durer. Agnes Dürer

Graphic portraits of Agnes Dürer (1495 and 1521) made by her husband at intervals of a quarter of a century

Albrecht and Agnes will soon get married, as their parents wanted, and live together long life, which few would dare to call happy: the two halves of the childless couple Dürer turned out to be too different in nature. “Between him and his wife, there probably never was an understanding, - writes Galina Matvievskaya in the monograph "Albrecht Dürer - Scientist". — Practical and prudent, Agnes was apparently very disappointed that the whole way of her new life was not at all like her father's habitual home. In an effort to live an orderly burgher life, subject to simple and clear rules, she energetically supported Dürer in all economic affairs, took care of the material well-being of the house, but her husband's aspirations and ideals remained alien to her. Undoubtedly, it was not easy for her: even being nearby, Dürer lived his own life, incomprehensible to her ... Over time, she hardened, became callous and stingy, and obvious hostility crept into their relationship ".

"Magnificent Durer": self-portrait from the Prado

Albrecht Durer. self-portrait
1498, 41×52 cm. Oil, Wood

Das malt ich nach meiner gestalt / Ich war sex und zwenzig Jor alt / Albrecht Dürer - “I wrote this from myself. I was 26 years old. Albrecht Dürer". Between two self-portraits - this and the previous one - only five years passed, and they were very important years biography of Dürer. In these five years, Dürer not only got married, but also became famous, not only matured, but also managed to realize himself as a great artist, a universal personality, for whom the framework became tight hometown, because now Dürer needs the whole world. In this self-portrait from the Prado, in the very look of Dürer, in his calm and confident pose and in the way his hands rest on the parapet, there is a special, conscious dignity.

Dürer, at the time of writing the self-portrait, had recently returned from his second trip to Italy. In the north of Europe, he is widely known as an excellent engraver, whose Apocalypse cycle, printed in the printing house of his godfather Anton Koberger, sold out in huge numbers. In Italy, this cradle of art, Dürer is maliciously copied, and he sues counterfeiters, defending his honest name, and also proves to doubting Italians that he is as magnificent in painting as in engraving, having painted the painting “The Feast of the Rosary” (her we tell the story in detail here). The new self-portrait is a kind of declaration that Dürer is no longer an artisan (and in his native Nuremberg artists are still considered representatives of the artisan class) - he is an artist, and therefore, God's chosen one.

This is no longer the self-consciousness of a medieval master, but of a Renaissance artist. Dürer, not without a challenge, portrays himself in an Italian outfit, refined and expensive: his gathered shirt of white silk is decorated at the collar with golden embroidery, wide black stripes on a cap with tassels rhyme with black contrasting trim of clothes, a brown cape of heavy expensive fabric is held at the level of the collarbones braided cord threaded into the eyelets. Dürer has acquired a dapper beard that still seems to smell of Venetian perfume, and his golden-red hair is carefully curled, which causes ridicule among pragmatic compatriots. In Nuremberg, his wife or mother hid such outfits in a chest: as a representative of the artisan class, Dürer, as biographers write, had no right to allow himself such a defiant luxury. And with this self-portrait, he polemically declares: the artist is not a craftsman, his position in the social hierarchy is much higher. His beautiful kid gloves of fine manufacture cry out about the same. "White gloves, also brought from Italy, - writes Dürer's biographer Stanislav Zarnitsky, - hide the honest hands of the worker, covered with abrasions, cuts, stains of ingrained paint"). His gloves are a symbol of his new status. An expensive Venetian-style suit and a mountain landscape outside the window (a tribute to the mentor Giovanni Bellini) all indicate that Dürer no longer agrees to consider himself a provincial artisan, limited by the conventions of time and space.

Self-portrait in clothes trimmed with fur (“Self-portrait at the age of 28 years”,
"Self-portrait in a fur coat"

Albrecht Durer. self-portrait
1500, 67×49 cm. Oil, Wood

The same tendency to consider the artist not as a simple craftsman, but as a universal personality, Dürer brings to its logical limit in the picture, which later became the most famous of his self-portraits. Here is how his appearance is described biographical novel Durer by Stanislav Zarnitsky:

“Old Dürer, once entering his son’s studio, saw a picture that he had just completed. Christ - so it seemed to the goldsmith, whose eyesight had completely deteriorated. But, looking more closely, he saw before him not Jesus, but his Albrecht. In the portrait his son was dressed in a rich fur coat. A hand with pale fingers, helpless in their thinness, was chillingly pulling her sides. From the gloomy background, as if from non-existence, protruded not just a face - the face of a saint. An unearthly grief froze in his eyes. The inscription is made in small letters: “This is how I, Albrecht Dürer from Nuremberg, painted myself at the age of 28 with eternal colors.”

For the first time, Dürer depicts himself not in a three-quarter spread, but strictly frontally - it was not customary to paint secular portraits, only saints. With a transparent "look into eternity", the beauty of his whole appearance and a gesture of his hand, similar to a gesture of blessing, he consciously likens himself to Christ. Was it a special audacity on the part of the artist to paint himself in the image of the Savior? Durer was known as a zealous Christian and was sure that becoming like Christ for a believer is not only a life task, but also a duty. “Because of the Christian faith, we must be subjected to insults and dangers” Dürer said.

Some researchers point out that the picture was painted in 1500, when humanity once again expected the end of the world, therefore, this self-portrait is a kind of spiritual testament of Durer.

Self-portrait in the image of the dead Christ?

Albrecht Durer. Dead Christ wearing a crown of thorns
1503

The dead Christ in the crown of thornsDürer's drawing with the thrown back head of the dead Jesus is considered by some to be a self-portrait. It is said that at the "age of Christ" or so, Dürer became very ill and was near death. For several days he was shaking with a fever, Dürer lay exhausted, with parched lips and sunken eyes. At that moment, everyone thought that the devout artist would send for the priest. But he demanded to bring a small mirror, put it on his chest and, barely finding the strength to raise his head, peered at his reflection for a long time. This frightened Dürer's relatives: perhaps they thought that under the influence of the disease he went crazy, because it had never occurred to anyone on his deathbed to admire himself in the mirror. When Dürer recovered, based on what he saw, he made this drawing. In the lower third of the sheet we see a large monogram of the artist - the letters A and D one above the other and the year - 1503 (Dürer was born in 1471).

Self-portraits of Albrecht Dürer, which are known only in words

Two most interesting references to Dürer's lost self-portraits have come down to us. Both belong to the artist's contemporaries. The first is the Italian Giorgio Vasari, the author of the famous "Biographies", and the second is the German, the well-known lawyer in Nuremberg Christoph Scheirl, who published the brochure "A Book in Praise of Germany" in 1508.

Both, using live examples, speak of Dürer's virtuosity, and therefore their descriptions deserve attention, although we do not know which self-portraits we are talking about.

Vasari tells how Dürer, whom he calls "the most amazing German painter and engraver on copper, producing the most beautiful prints”, sent to his younger colleague Rafael “a head self-portrait, made by him in gouache on the finest fabric so that it could be viewed equally from both sides, and the highlights were without white and transparent, and the other light areas of the image were untouched with the expectation of a translucent fabric, being only barely tinted and touched with color watercolor. This thing seemed amazing to Raphael, and therefore he sent him many sheets with his own drawings, which Albrecht especially treasured..

The case described by Sheirl seems to be a naive curiosity and tells about Dürer and his dog:

“... Once, when he painted his own portrait with a mirror and put a still fresh picture in the sun, his dog, just running past, licked him, believing that she had run into her master (for only dogs, according to the same Pliny , know their names and recognize their master, even if he appears quite unexpectedly). And I can testify that to this day there is a trace of this. How often, moreover, did the maids try to erase the cobwebs he had painstakingly written!”

Cameo self-portraits (Dürer in multi-figure paintings as himself)

Performing solo self-portraits, Dürer was an innovator. But sometimes he acted more traditionally, as did many of his predecessors and contemporaries - he entered his own image into multi-figured compositions. It was a common practice for artists of Dürer's time to place oneself on the altar door or inside a dense crowd of "praying and forthcoming" artists.

Albrecht Durer. Feast of the Rosary (Feast of Rose Wreaths)
1506, 162×194.5 cm. Oil, Wood

In the right corner of the altar painting "The Feast of the Rosary", commissioned by the German community in Venice, the artist depicts himself in magnificent attire. In his hands he holds a scroll, which says that Albrecht Dürer completed the painting in five months, although in fact the work on it lasted at least eight: it was important for Dürer to prove to the doubting Italians that he was as good in painting as in engraving.

Albrecht Durer. Altar of Job (Altar of Yabakh). Reconstruction
1504

The Jabach Altar (sometimes also called the "Job Altar") was probably ordered from Dürer by the Elector Frederick III of Saxony for the castle in Wittenberg to commemorate the end of the plague of 1503. Later, the Cologne Yabach family acquired the altar, until the 18th century it was in Cologne, then it was divided, and its central part was lost. This is how the scattered outer wings looked now: the long-suffering Job and his wife are depicted on the left, and the musicians who came to console Job are depicted on the right. Dürer portrayed himself as a drummer. In reality, the artist was interested in music, tried to play the lute, but there is something even more undoubtedly Dürer in this image - his inherent extravagance in the choice of clothes. Dürer the drummer depicts himself wearing a black turban and a short orange cape with an unusual cut.

Supposed self-portraits of Dürer can be found in his works "The Torment of Ten Thousand Christians", "Geller's Altar" and "Adoration of the Trinity".

Albrecht Durer. Martyrdom of Ten Thousand Christians
1508, 99×87 cm

Albrecht Durer. Geller Altar (Altar of the Assumption of Mary). Reconstruction
1500s, 190×260 cm. Oil, Tempera, Wood

Albrecht Durer. Adoration of the Holy Trinity (Landauer Altarpiece)
1511, 135×123 cm

And here are fragments of the above works with Dürer's self-portraits:

Durer naked

Albrecht Durer. self-portrait in the nude
1509, 29×15 cm. Ink, Paper

The German philologist and historian of the 16th century, Joachim Camerarius the Elder, wrote an essay on the life and work of the artist for the publication of Dürer's book on proportions. The appearance of Dürer in it Camerarius described as follows: “Nature endowed him with a body that was distinguished by its slenderness and posture and quite corresponding to the noble spirit in it ... He had an expressive face, sparkling eyes, a nose of noble shape, ... a rather long neck, a very wide chest, a taut stomach, muscular thighs, strong and slender legs . But you'd say you've never seen anything more graceful than his fingers. His speech was so sweet and witty that nothing upset his listeners so much as its ending..

The frankness with which Dürer depicts not someone else's, but his own nakedness, until the twentieth century and similar experiments by Lucian Freud, remained something unprecedented and so shocking that in many publications this generational self-portrait of Dürer was bashfully cut off at waist level.

However, one must understand that Dürer's strategy did not include shocking anyone. Rather, he was driven by the same Renaissance interest of the naturalist, who at the age of 13 made the future artist become interested in his own face and immediately check whether he could “double nature”, capturing what he sees in the drawing. In addition, in Germany during the time of Dürer, the image of a naked body from nature represented serious problem: unlike Italy, where finding sitters of both sexes was not difficult and did not cost too much, it was not customary for the Germans to pose nude for artists. And Dürer himself complained a lot about the fact that he was forced to learn to draw the human body based on the works of Italians (Andrea Mantegna and others), and Vasari in Marcantonio's biography even admits such a condescendingly caustic passage in relation to Dürer's ability to depict a naked body:

“... I am ready to believe that Albrecht, perhaps, could not have done better, because, having no other opportunity, he was forced, depicting a naked body, to copy his own students, who, like most Germans, had ugly bodies, although the dressed people of these countries seem very beautiful ”.

Even if we indignantly reject Vasari's attack on the ugliness of German figures, it is natural to assume that, being the owner of excellent proportions by nature, Dürer actively used his own body for his artistic and anthropometric studies. Structural questions human body and the ratio of its parts over time became one of the main ones in the work and worldview of Dürer.

Albrecht Durer. Men's bath

In the engraving "Men's Bath", Dürer finds a "legal" and successful occasion for depicting a nude, in no way offending public morality and warning reproaches from conservatives or hypocrites. Baths are a special pride of German cities. They, like the Roman baths, serve as a place for friendly meetings and meaningful conversations. But lead in the bath, no one is dressed! On foreground engraving Dürer depicts his mentor Michael Wolgemuth and closest friend Willibald Pirckheimer. There is also a self-portrait of Dürer here: his muscular body goes to the flutist from the background.

Self-portraits of Dürer as a "man of sorrows"

Albrecht Durer. Man of Sorrows (Self-portrait)
1522, 40.8×29 cm. Pencil, Paper

“I myself found a gray hair in myself, it grew from poverty and because I suffer so much. I feel like I was born to get in trouble.". The quoted words are a quote from Dürer's letter to a friend and, perhaps, the most intimate expression of what he thinks about his own life.

This late self-portrait paradoxically connects two attitudes of earlier self-portraits: to use one's naked body as a nature and to identify oneself with Christ in a certain way. Drawing his no longer young body and his face touched by aging, fixing how the muscles and skin gradually become flabby, forming skin folds where they were not there yesterday, fixing the changes taking place with sober objectivity, Dürer simultaneously draws up this self-portrait in accordance with the iconographic type " husband of sorrows." This definition, coming from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, denoted the tormented Christ - in the crown of thorns, half-dressed, beaten, spat upon, with a bloody wound under the ribs (1, 2).

Albrecht Durer. self-portrait
1521

And this self-portrait is not a painting or an engraving, but a visualization of the diagnosis from a letter written by Dürer to the doctor from whom he wanted to get a consultation. At the top, an explanation is made: “Where the yellow spot is and where my finger points, it hurts me.”

Poverty, illness, litigation with customers and the arrest of beloved students accused of godlessness, the refusal of the Nuremberg authorities to pay the artist the annual allowance appointed by the late Emperor Maximilian, the lack of understanding in the family - last years Durer were not easy and filled with sadness. After making a long journey to see a whale washed ashore, the 50-year-old Dürer will fall ill with malaria, from the consequences of which he will not be able to recover until death. A serious illness (possibly a tumor of the pancreas) led to the fact that, according to Willibald Pirkheimer, Dürer dried up, "like a bundle of straw." And when he is buried (without special honors - the Nuremberg artisan had no right to them), the unreasonable admirers of the genius who realized themselves would insist on exhumation in order to remove the death mask from him. And his famous wavy curls will be cut off and sorted out as a keepsake. As if the memory of him needs these props from his mortal flesh, while Dürer left immortal evidence of himself - engravings, paintings, books, and finally, self-portraits.

Albrecht Dürer(German Albrecht Dürer, May 21, 1471, Nuremberg - April 6, 1528, Nuremberg) - German painter and graphic artist, one of the greatest masters of the Western European Renaissance. Recognized as the largest European master of woodcuts, who raised it to the level of real art. The first art theorist among the North European artists, author practical guide on fine and decorative arts in German, which promoted the need for the versatile development of artists. Founder of comparative anthropometry. The first European artist to write an autobiography. The name of Dürer is associated with the formation of the North European self-portrait as independent genre. One of the best portrait painters of his time, he highly valued painting for the fact that it allowed the image to be preserved. specific person for future generations.

Durer's creative path coincided with the culmination of the German Renaissance, the complex, largely disharmonious nature of which left an imprint on all of his art. It accumulates the richness and originality of German artistic traditions, constantly manifested in the appearance of Dürer's characters, far from the classical ideal of beauty, in preference for sharp character, in attention to individual details. At the same time, Dürer's contact with Italian art, the secret of harmony and perfection of which he tried to comprehend. He is the only master of the Northern Renaissance who, in terms of the orientation and versatility of his interests, the desire to master the laws of art, the development of perfect proportions of the human figure and the rules of perspective construction, can be compared with the greatest masters Italian Renaissance.

Albrecht Dürer "Self-portrait", Oil on wood, 67 × 49 cm, 1500

This self-portrait made an unforgettable impression on those who saw it. Already at the initial stage of work on the portrait, Albrecht committed, from the point of view of the medieval canons of art, genuine blasphemy: he began to paint himself from the front - from a perspective unthinkable for depicting mere mortals, even a great painter. So it was allowed to write only God. But Durer went further: he gave his appearance the features of Jesus Christ. Accident? It is unlikely, because it is known that in subsequent works the artist repeatedly used himself as a model for depicting Christ.

The rumor about the new creation of the artist, although it was never exhibited publicly and always remained the property of the master, spread throughout the city and soon went beyond it. There was every reason to blame Dürer for exorbitant pride, especially in this terrible time (1500 - the expectation of the end of the world). But he was even forgiven for his pride. The picture opened not only new stage in German portraiture. She seemed to say that man created God in his own image.

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