3
Italy: "Here I am a gentleman"
This phrase, taken from one of Dürer's letters written from Venice to his friend Willibald Pirckheimer, serves as the starting-point for an analysis of the way the artist interpreted and used Italian sources. Monumentality, the combination of colours, the play of light and shade and the gestures and expressions of his figures now reflect clearly Italian models. This is the case with the Madonna Haller, in which the influence of Giovanni Bellini's virgins is particularly noticeable. Italian influence is also evident in Dürer's original approach to the composition of Jesus among the Doctors, for which two preparatory drawings are also on display.
This phrase, taken from one of Dürer's letters written from Venice to his friend Willibald Pirckheimer, serves as the starting-point for an analysis of the way the artist interpreted and used Italian sources. Monumentality, the combination of colours, the play of light and shade and the gestures and expressions of his figures now reflect clearly Italian models. This is the case with the Madonna Haller, in which the influence of Giovanni Bellini's virgins is particularly noticeable. Italian influence is also evident in Dürer's original approach to the composition of Jesus among the Doctors, for which two preparatory drawings are also on display.
Albrecht Dürer
Woman from Nuremberg and Venetian Woman, 1495
Pen. 247 x 160 mm
Frankfurt am Main, Städel Museum, Graphische Sammlung
Albrecht Dürer
Virgin and Child (Madonna Haller), c. 1498
Oil on panel. 52.4 x 42.2 cm
Lot and his Daughters (verso)
Washington, National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection
Albrecht Dürer
Christ among the Doctors, 1506
Oil on panel. 64.3 x 80.3 cm
Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
Albrecht Dürer
Head of the young Christ, 1506
Brush with lead white highlights on blue paper. 275 x 211 mm
Vienna, Albertina