The renaissance began in Italy in the 14th century, however, the ideas of the renaissance did not reach Germany until the 15th century. Renaissance means “rebirth”, marking the revival of interest in Greco-Roman art, architecture and ideas. One of the most well-known German renaissance artists was Albrecht Dürer. Before he became an established artist, he traveled throughout Europe to learn different techniques to perfect his craft. While in Italy, he copied numerous Italian renaissance paintings until the mastered the key techniques of the renaissance.
These key techniques included using perspective, blending layers of paint to produce a shading effect, and producing realistic human forms. He studied the human form and its proportions thoroughly and eventually wrote Four Books on Human Proportions and Treatise on Measurement to share his studies with other artists. Shortly after the renaissance “arrived” in Germany the Protestant Reformation began. As a result, lots of German renaissance art is religious in some way, either Protestant reformation art or Catholic counter-reformation art. Protestant ideas were seen in Dürer’s work even before the Reformation and continued to be seen in his work throughout his career. Dürer was one of the most important artists of the German renaissance whose influence spread throughout all of Germany.
Although Dürer would become Protestant, he still created Catholic art. The Paumgartner Altarpiece is one of his works that does not display Protestant ideas as it was commissioned by the Paumgartner family for St. Catherine’s Church. The triptychs center panel displays the nativity scene in an untraditional setting. The sun is shining brightly in the top left corner and Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus are situated between two buildings under a small covering. The right and left panels depict St. Eustace and St. George respectively, both with bright red uniforms in contrast to their black background. Both saints hold flags and St. Eustace is holding a slain dragon.
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The faces of the saints and the other figures in the center panel are donor portraits from the members of the Paumgartner family (www.wga.hu). The lines made by the top of the buildings and the stone ledge all meet at a single point in the distance, showing a great use of linear perspective. The figures of Mary and Joseph in this painting are realistic in their size but the figures of the Paumgartner family are painted much smaller than them. This may have been intentional to keep the focus on the nativity scene, but it gives the painting an odd appearance after studying it for a while. The painting was altered in the 17th century to give the saints helmets, horses, and different backgrounds but were removed during a restoration (Baily, p.58).
This piece has no clear Protestant ideas but does show how Dürer used the renaissance techniques of shading, realistic human forms and linear perspective. Dürer was very well known for his prints and less for his paintings, but he did paint one of the most famous German renaissance paintings, Self Portrait (1500). Dürer is centered in the work and looking directly at the viewer with a straight face. His hair is down to his shoulders and is a dark brown and almost blends into the black background in some places. His right hand strokes the fur on the opening of his thick jacket. “Dürer places himself frontally in the composition, a pose usually reserved for images of the divine. The panel looks, in fact, like a secularized icon, for it is patterned after images of Christ” (Davies, 2007, p.639). When Dürer places himself frontally, it suggests that he believes that the divine should not be idealized. He painted himself in the image of Christ to share the idea that everyone could have a personal connection to Christ. The imitation of Christ was characteristically Protestant.
The hand stroking his jacket shows only three fingers, symbolizing the holy trinity. The piece has solemn and serious tone shown in Dürer’s facial expression. This work was painted before the start of the Protestant Reformation but displays many Protestant ideas, so it is not a surprise that when Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses and began the Protestant Reformation Dürer became a follower. The woodcut is a distinctly German medium of art that came about around the time of the printing press. Artists would carve into a block of wood to create a scene, then dip it in ink, and press it on to paper creating the image. Since the woodcut could only show lines, artists created new techniques such as hatching in order to add shading and texture to their scenes. It became an easy way for artist to spread their work and ideas quickly.
Prints were often collected and bound into books. Dürer was “the greatest printmaker of the time, he had a wide influence on sixteenth-century art through his woodcuts and engravings, which circulated all over Europe. His prints made him famous and wealthy – so much so that he complained about the relatively poor reward he earned for his paintings” (Davies, 2007, p. 635). One of Dürer’s most famous woodcuts are a series depicting the apocalypse. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a depiction of the book of Revelation where it is said that Jesus will one day return to be the King of his followers and rid the world of all evil (www.bibleproject.com). Pictured in the print is four warriors that symbolize War, Fire, Famine and Death terrorizing the people of earth during the second coming. Once the terror was over the only people remaining would be Protestants and they would be able to live peaceful lives free from evil. This subject follows along with the serious nature of Dürer’s other renaissance works.
Since many prints could be made from a single woodcut it can be assumed that Dürer’s Protestant woodcuts could’ve helped spread the ideas of the Protestant Reformation throughout Germany. The Four Apostles is a well-known Protestant work of Dürer’s. It depicts four apostles, John, Paul, Peter, and Mark. The two apostles in the front wear long robes in bright red and white that stand out against the dark background. John and Paul are holding scripture in the painting, recognizing the fact that Martin Luther believed that everyone should read the Bible and interpret it in their own way. The apostle’s facial expressions give the painting a sense of seriousness. The apostles on the left are intently reading a book of scripture. On the right, the man in the back is looking off into the distance and the man in the front is looking sideways directly at the viewer with an almost judgmental look. Passages written on the frame translated by Luther, warn against false prophets.
The apostles are depicted without halos, unlike in Catholic art. This is significant because Catholics viewed the apostles as saints, but Protestants did not believe in recognizing saints, so Dürer did not include them in this work. The piece also shows clear renaissance art techniques. The figures are very realistic, and the blending and shading are done with layers of paint. Dürer was one of the most important artists of the German Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. He began using renaissance techniques he learned on his travels in Italy in his commissioned art and then transitioned to creating art with clear Protestant ideas while still utilizing the same techniques. His work always exhibited serious tones to captivate the viewer and encourage them to think about the work. His influence can be seen throughout the Protestant Reformation in other artists work and in the spreading of Protestant ideas.
