Albrecht Dürer

German painter and printmaker. Born in Nuremberg on May 21, the son of a goldsmith who emigrated from Hungary. He initially trained in his father's workshop, but decided to become a painter and entered the workshop of Michael Wolgemut (1434-1519) at the end of 1486. ​​It is believed that he collaborated with his teacher on woodblock illustrations for the humanist Schödel's World Chronicle. In 1490, he traveled to Colmar, Basel, Strasbourg, and Flanders. He went to Colmar to admire Schongauer, but Schongauer had already passed away, so his hopes were not fulfilled. In Basel, he produced his first signed woodblock print.

In 1494, he married Agnes Frey in his hometown. One of his works from this period is Self-Portrait (Louvre Museum), known as a "Proposal Self-Portrait" and showing a thistle (symbolizing the faithfulness of his husband). He made his first trip to Italy between this year and the following year, staying in Venice, and during the trip he painted a series of pure landscapes in watercolors. In 1498, he completed the woodblock series The Apocalypse of John, and woodblock prints, which had started out as German folk art, finally achieved a high level of artistic expression. He studied the morphology of plants, animals, and the human body, as well as perspective, and his representative works from this period include The Paumgartner Altar (Alte Pinakothek, Munich) and The Adoration of the Kings (Uffizi Gallery, Florence), and he almost completed the woodblock series The Life of Mary. His research into the proportions of the copperplate print Adam and Eve eventually bore fruit in the masterpiece now housed in the Prado Museum.

From 1505 to 1507, he made his second trip to Italy. He stayed in Venice for a long time and was inspired by the art of Bellini and Mantegna. His representative works from this period, which solidified his reputation as a "Germanic master," were "Young Venetian Maidens" (Kunstgeschichtisches Museum, Vienna), "Madonna and Child with the Pleiades" (Staatsgalerie Berlin), and "Feast of the Virgin Mary, Queen of the Rosary" (Prague Museum). After returning to Italy, he produced religious paintings such as "All Saints' Day" (c. 1511, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), and completed his earlier woodblock series "The Great Passion," as well as the masterpieces of copperplate prints "Melancholia," "The Knight, Death and the Devil," and "Hieronymus in his Study." These copperplate prints, with their subtle variations in light and dark, are highly regarded as expressions that paved the way for Rembrandt's later etchings. He left behind some 350 woodblock prints, 100 copperplate prints, and 900 drawings during his lifetime, and is a central figure in the German painting tradition, which places emphasis on the expression of black and white lines as well as colored paintings.

In 1519, he traveled to Switzerland with his friend Pirckheimer, and from 1520 to the following year, he traveled around Flanders. For him, who received a life pension from Maximilian I, this trip was a triumphant return in both name and reality as a leading figure in Scandinavian painting. He is the father of German painting, who overcame the barriers between Northern and Southern Europe in art, and led the reconciliation of late Gothic and Renaissance, and is also one of the most important painters in art history. Germany at that time was in a critical period following the Protestant Reformation and the Peasants' War, and he could not ignore the devastation of the spirit in which fanaticism and intolerance were rampant. In 1526, he painted the masterpiece "Four Apostles" (Alte Pinakothek) and presented it to the city hall of his hometown, and it is understood to be a will containing an allegory of caution for the world by the Renaissance intellectual Dürer. His "Self-Portrait" (1500) in the same gallery is also highly regarded as an image of an artist with a sense of mission. He died in Nuremberg on April 6, 1928.

[Taro Nomura]

"Dürer - The Man and His Works" by F. Antzelevsky, translated by Maekawa Seiro and Katsu Kunioki (1982, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "World Art Collection 9: Dürer" with commentary by Maekawa Seiro (1976, Shueisha) " ▽ "World Masters Series: Dürer" with commentary by H.T. Musbah, translated by Senashi Nobuyuki (1969, Bijutsu Shuppansha)" ▽ "World Prints 3: Dürer and the German Renaissance" edited by J. Adhemar and Sakamoto Mitsuru (1978, Chikuma Shobo)" ▽ "World Prints 1: Dürer/Rembrandt" edited by Kaizu Tadao and Takahashi Yuko (1981, Kodansha)" ▽ "Dürer's Drawings" edited by Maekawa Seiro (1972, Iwasaki Bijutsusha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ドイツの画家、版画家。ハンガリーから移住した金工師の息子として5月21日ニュルンベルクに生まれる。初め父の工房で修業したが、画家を志して1486年末ウォルゲムートMichael Wolgemut（1434―1519）の工房に入る。ここで人文学者シェーデルの『世界年代記』のための木版挿絵を師と共作したと推定される。90年コルマル、バーゼル、ストラスブール、フランドル地方を遍歴。コルマル行きはションガウアーを慕ってのことだったが、彼はすでに亡く、期待は果たせなかった。バーゼルで署名入りの最初の木版画を制作している。

　1494年、故郷でアグネス・フライと結婚。この時期の作品に「求婚の自画像」といわれるアザミ（夫の誠実を象徴）を手にする『自画像』（ルーブル美術館）がある。この年から翌年にかけての第1回イタリア旅行でベネチアに滞在するが、旅の途中、水彩で純粋風景画の連作を描いている。98年木版画の連作『ヨハネ黙示録』を完成、ドイツ民衆芸術として出発した木版画はここに初めて高度の芸術的表現を得た。動植物、人体の形態学的研究および遠近法の研究を行い、この時期の代表作に『パウムガルトナーの祭壇』（ミュンヘン、アルテ・ピナコテーク）、『三王礼拝』（フィレンツェ、ウフィツィ美術館）があり、木版連作『マリアの生涯』をほぼ完成。銅版画『アダムとイブ』のプロポーション研究は、やがて現プラド美術館蔵の大作となって結実する。

　1505～07年、第2回イタリア旅行を行う。ベネチアに長く滞在し、ベッリーニおよびマンテーニャの芸術に触れて啓発された。『若いベネチアの娘』（ウィーン美術史博物館）、『真鶸(まひわ)の聖母子』（ベルリン国立美術館）、『ロザリオの女王の聖母マリアの祝祭』（プラハ美術館）は、「ゲルマンの巨匠」としての彼の名声を揺るぎないものとしたこの時期の代表作である。帰国後、『万聖節』（1511ころ・ウィーン美術史博物館）などの宗教画を制作し、以前から手がけていた木版画の連作『大受難』を完成するとともに、銅版画の傑作『メランコリア』『騎士と死と悪魔』『書斎のヒエロニムス』を制作。これら明暗の微妙な振幅をもつ銅版画は、後世のレンブラントのエッチングに道を開く表現として高く評価されている。生涯に木版画350点、銅版画100点、デッサン900点に上るグラフィック作品を残した彼は、彩色画とともに黒白の線の表現を重視するドイツ絵画の伝統を基礎づけている。

　1519年、友人ピルクハイマーとスイス旅行に出かけ、20年から翌年にかけてはフランドル各地を旅行する。マクシミリアン1世から終身年金を受ける身となった彼にとって、この旅は名実ともに北欧絵画の第一人者としての凱旋(がいせん)の旅であった。彼は芸術における北欧と南欧との障壁を身をもって克服し、後期ゴシックとルネサンスとを融和に導いたドイツ絵画の父であると同時に、美術史上もっとも重要な画家の1人でもある。当時のドイツは宗教改革から農民戦争へ続く危機的時代であり、狂信と不寛容の横行する精神の荒廃を彼は黙視できなかった。26年自発的に描いて故郷の市庁舎に贈った大作『4人の使徒』（アルテ・ピナコテーク）は、ルネサンス的教養人デューラーの警世の寓意(ぐうい)を込めた遺言であると理解されている。同絵画館の『自画像』（1500）も使命感をもつ芸術家像として声価が高い。28年4月6日、ニュルンベルクで没。

［野村太郎］

『F・アンツェレフスキー著、前川誠郎・勝国興訳『デューラー――人と作品』（1982・岩波書店）』▽『前川誠郎解説『世界美術全集9　デューラー』（1976・集英社）』▽『H・T・ムスバー解説、千足伸行訳『世界の巨匠シリーズ　デューラー』（1969・美術出版社）』▽『J・アデマール、坂本満編『世界版画3　デューラーとドイツ・ルネサンス』（1978・筑摩書房）』▽『海津忠雄・高橋裕子編著『世界版画美術全集1　デューラー／レンブラント』（1981・講談社）』▽『前川誠郎編著『デューラーの素描』（1972・岩崎美術社）』

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