Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) is considered by most experts the greatest Northern European Renaissance painter. The German artist began his career apprenticing in painting and woodcuts. In his early adulthood, Dürer traveled around Europe studying. He was fascinated with Venice, Italy, where the public’s high regard for art supported artistic innovations. He brought new ideas, including Italian techniques, back to Germany.
This self-portrait shows the influence of Dürer’s training in the Flemish (Northern European) style. The half-length, three-quarter pose was a Flemish tradition (as opposed to the profile views used in Italian portraits until the 1470s). The three-quarter pose allowed for eye contact and a more natural and dynamic view.
The work also reflects the techniques Dürer learned in Italy. The artist employs mathematical perspective, an Italian technique. He creates the illusion of threedimensional space with receding orthogonal lines that meet at a distant vanishing point. The window and arch define the orthogonal lines in the foreground.
Architectural features frame the interior space, including a ledge in the foreground that connects the picture plane to the viewer’s space. The window reveals a landscape with a water feature, trees, and snow-capped mountains painted in hazy atmospheric perspective.
Dürer uses oil paint to show his ability to depict varying textures: smooth skin, matte walls, glinting gold threads, soft clouds, and rugged mountains. He highlights individual strands of hair and models the figure with subtle shading.
Dürer’s figure dominates the composition. He paints his likeness wearing expensive clothing, depicting himself as a nobleman. He wears a black-and-white doublet (jacket), a matching Italian cap, a pleated shirt, a cloak with a blueand-white silk cord, and fine kid gloves. Dürer chooses not to show himself holding a paintbrush, an artist’s traditional attribute.
Dürer’s hair is fashionably long and loose, but his beard and mustache are more unusual for the time. His hair and beard were probably artificially curled in a time-consuming process. These distinctive features would have been eye-catching at the time.
The artist’s monogram is also unusual in European art from this period. The inscription below the window reads “1498 I have thus painted myself. I was 26 years old. Albrecht Dürer.” Dürer promoted himself as an artistic genius. The mountains behind the artist are probably the Italian Alps, showing his worldliness. Dürer’s solid, stable pose suggests dignified importance. In this portrait, he presents himself as a prestigious, creative prodigy.