The Life of Albrecht Dürer, Told Through his Self-Portraits — II
This, and the following, painted self-portraits were done at a time when Dürer was focussing on prints in the 1490s. This particular painting was produced in the same years as the innovative Apocalypse woodcut prints — a series of scenes from the Book of Revelation that brought the artist popular fame and wealth when they were published. With fame and wealth came new degrees of independence and societal stature.
One can see in this painting the influence of Italian, especially Venetian masters, on Dürer’s painterly style. It was produced four years after his first visit to Italy when he met Bellini and studied the work of some of the great painters. His costume is the court dress of Venice, and the landscape in the background is the Alps. In Italy Dürer met the independent socially-honoured artists of Italian society and would strive for comparable social status back in Germany. By presenting himself as Venetian he is perhaps saying that although the young artist has returned home to Germany that what he desired was the Venetian position of the respected artist.
While journeying over the Alps Dürer notably made a series of watercolour landscapes, one of which was copied into the background shown through the window. The watercolours he did are notable in being the earliest pure landscape studies to have survived in the history of Western art.
The evolution of Dürer’s style and technique are on display: the architectural structure behind him, painted with subtle tones and colours, demonstrates a new Italian stability. Dürer has incorporated not only the Italian painting technique but also the knowledge of perspective that was a hallmark of the Italian Renaissance.
However perhaps the most significant statement here is that as well as wearing the dress of the Italian gentry, the artist has covered his hands with the grey gloves that marked high social status. As a craftsman he toiled with his hands, so in hiding them he sought to elevate himself from craftsman to artist — one wanting to be known less for skill than creativity.
Dürer’s facial features still bear an element of youth. This portrait stands chronologically between two other painted self-portraits. As such one can see an element of both the younger self depicted five years prior and the more adult mien depicted only two years later.
Silva Maroto in his book El Retrato del Rencimiento states that there is a present a psychological dominance in the contrast between the sensual character of Dürer’s features and his cold and penetrating gaze. This revealing portrait style would be a signature of Rembrandt’s work a century later. It was not until Rembrandt that another artist made more self-portraits than Dürer.
Again Dürer demonstrates his satisfaction at his own artistic capacity, he states in the inscription on the window ledge: ‘This I painted after my own person aged twenty-six years, Albrecht Dürer’. In his description of himself the artist chose not to refer to any other aspect of his life but rather to reflect himself as a creative force.
The Venetian painter Jacopo de’ Barbari whom Dürer had known in Venice, visited Nuremberg in 1500. From de’ Barbari, Dürer learned much about the new developments in perspective, anatomy and proportion. This would spark Dürer’s lifelong obsession with Humanist study and meant that for some he would come to fulfil Alberti’s vision of the Renaissance man.
Dürer’s mastery of the Venetian painting technique is apparent here, he skilfully depicts himself clothed in a sombre coat against a dark background. The inscription that is positioned at eye level to draw attention to the eyes, states: ‘The I Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg, have painted myself in fast paint at the age of 28 years’.
Many aspects of the painting suggest a portrait of Christ: the rigidly symmetrical composition draws attention to the eyes which gaze directly at the viewer, the hand which holds his coat together bringing to mind gestures of blessing, the way his hair is arranged and the expression. All are reminiscent of traditional paintings of the Salvator Mundi, an iconography of Christ.
However as a devout Christian this was not the act of blasphemy it might first appear but rather shows an aspiration to know the suffering of Christ, or a personal statement of faith. H.W. Jansen in his History of Art has this to say on the image: ‘The picture looks, in fact, like a secularised icon, reflecting not so much Dürer’s vanity as the seriousness with which he regarded his mission as an artistic reformer. (One thinks of Martin Luther’s “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise.”)’. A quote by Martin Luther is particularly poignant as during the latter half of his life Dürer leaned towards Protestantism, but was himself incapable of breaking with the Catholic Church at least publicly.
This painting shows Dürer’s development into a mature artist as it highlights an artist who not only possessed a virtuosic skill at his craft but had begun to innovate, shown here by his violation of traditional composition.
‘The artist is chosen by God to fulfil his commands and must never be overwhelmed by public opinion.
Dürer made far fewer self-portraits in the latter half of his life and those that he did produce lacked the self-elevation of his youth. He made no further painted self-portraits nor did he ever again design a whole composition around his own image, however his image is found in several of his larger paintings.
This ink and brush drawing is from a period of intense productivity in Dürer’s life. By the time of his return to Italy (1505–1507) he was the most celebrated German artist of the age. In Italy he visited Venice, Florence and Rome, studying the Italian masters and producing some of his most important paintings.
Dürer’s choice of subject marks this self-portrait out, as there are no other examples of nude self-portraiture until Egon Schiele in the early 20th century. Here he is shown without his characteristic long hair, having wrapped it in a net giving this drawing a unique sense of intimacy. Interestingly Dürer seems to have delved into Chiaroscuro in this composition, setting his harshly lit figure against a dark dramatic background. This was clearly not a work to be published as although he displays a virtuosic depiction of the chest, in contrast the face is sketched sparingly, as if in haste.
Brian Cummings makes the point in Mortal Thoughts: Religion, Secularity, & Identity in Shakespeare and Early Modern Culture that the image was probably largely an exercise in imagination as full length mirrors did not exist at this time, utilising his knowledge of proportion to overcome this visual obstacle. Cummings goes on to write on the pose of the figure saying ‘…he stands seemingly alone, unembarrassed and self-absorbed, he is not posing. His weight is on his near leg, as if in movement.’
Perhaps this is Dürer’s most faithful representation of himself, here he is presented as he was, without any of the trappings of life. This image seems to be devoid of purpose, there is no iconography present. We finally see not an image of how Dürer wants to be seen but simply what he saw in the mirror over 500 years ago, a human male.
It is in many ways a return to his earliest self-portrait, a sketch from a reflection. Both show more about pure ability than anything biographical, and both reflect a lifelong commitment to realism. As quoted in the first part of this essay, Dürer once stated that the ‘more accurately your work represents life, the better it will appear.’ Indeed in the modern day it is often Dürer’s sketches and watercolours that draw attention, for in addition to their consummate skill, they have an added historical interest.
In the latter half of his life Dürer concentrated solely on printmaking and large painted pieces. He complained often that paintings did not make enough money to justify the time spent when compared to prints.
-
To conclude, the self-portraiture of Albrecht Dürer offers real insight into the development of this extraordinary artist. Dürer’s life is surprisingly well documented for the time. Something that reflects his knowledge of his own importance, but also hints at the consistent attempts to shape his historical image that makes his legacy complex. Many of these self-portraits are meticulously constructed to convey what Dürer wished to survive for posterity, and sometimes seem to show more about how he wished to appear than what he really did.
