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Dürer: science and painting

Dürer's interest in the nude was notably modified following his first trip to Italy, and from that point onwards he looked to an ideal derived from the classical world. Nonetheless, Dürer's nudes, with their emphasis on restrained beauty and proportion, are clearly based on a real model in which it is possible to analyse the different types of human body. Towards the end of his life his search for the secrets of artistic representation led Dürer to write various theoretical treatises through which he aimed to offer a solid, intellectual basis for the practice of painting. Like Leonardo, Dürer was also interested in the proportions of the horse.