Albrecht Durer

Albrect Durer lived Tom 1471 to 1528. While he is widely considered the most famous artist of Reformation Germany, his prominent status is derived from his ability to consolidate the new Italian Renaissance ideas with those of the Flemish late Gothic painters. Strong ties with Italy through trade in the 1 6th Century spread the Italian humanist concepts, encouraging Durer's development into the ideal artist: part natural talent, but part humanist and scholar. His engravings and woodcuts elevated this form of work from the level oftrade to art, and his paintings show an amazing attention to minute detail, especially in his self-portraits.

While most German artists were having trouble integrating medieval devotional work with the Italian emphasis on the antique, mythology and perfect bodies, Durer managed to form his own style through concentration upon geometry and measurement. His best-known treaty, f oar Books on Human Proportions (pub. posthumously, 1528), studied geometry with the aid of a thorough examination of Piero della Francesa's discourse on perspective. This interest in geometry and mathematical proportions, his extensive travel experiences and his consistently careful observations of nature make him a most "scientific" artist.