Albrecht Dürer the Elder

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Albrecht Dürer the Elder Ä. (1490), painted by his son Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer the Elder ( Hungarian Ajtósi Dürer Albrecht ; * around 1427 in Ajtós near Gyula , Kingdom of Hungary ; † before September 20, 1502 in Nuremberg ) was a goldsmith in Nuremberg. He was the father of the painters Albrecht Dürer and Hans Dürer and the goldsmith Endres Dürer .

Life

Albrecht Dürer the Elder was the eldest son of the goldsmith Anthoni Dürer . After an apprenticeship in goldsmithing with his father, he embarked on an extensive hike that took him to the Netherlands and perhaps even to Burgundy . At the age of 17 he appears for the first time in written sources in a selection list of the Nuremberg crossbow and rifle shooters. It is believed that during this stay he met the goldsmith Hieronymus Holper and worked as a journeyman in his workshop for a short time. Here he is likely to have adopted the name "Dürer", which is derived from his Hungarian place of birth ( ajtó = door). The name "Dürer" is therefore a name of origin, the door can also be found in his son's coat of arms.

This was followed by a stay of several years in the Netherlands, where, according to his son's records, he made contacts with many important Dutch goldsmiths. Due to a double cup made around 1470 to 1480 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna , which Heinrich Kohlhaussen gave Albrecht Dürer the Elder on an experimental basis. Ä. has been attributed and shows Burgundian influences, it is assumed that his trip also led him to Burgundy and that he may work for Duke Philip III. carried out the good.

Around 1455 he returned to Nuremberg. He finally entered the workshop of Hieronymus Holper, who not only became his patron, but also his friend. Here he worked as a journeyman until 1467 before he went into business for himself and rented a room in the rear house of the humanist and priest, Johannes Pirckheimer , the father of the scholar and humanist Willibald Pirckheimer , who was later to support Dürer's sons. On April 4, 1467, he acquired the civil rights of the city of Nuremberg and was confirmed as Holper's employee at the silver weighing office and the goldsmith 's show. On June 8, 1467, he married Barbara , then 15 years old , daughter of Hieronymus Holper. He and her had 18 children, only three of whom survived childhood.

On June 4, 1468 the city granted him the rights of a master goldsmith, and he decided to settle there permanently. Albrecht quickly gained fame and recognition, so that on March 20, 1470, together with the goldsmith Nicolaus Rot , he was appointed coin tester for the city of Nuremberg. In the following years Albrecht Dürer the Elder was named. Ä. entrusted with numerous municipal tasks. On May 12, 1475, he acquired and moved into house S 493 on the corner of Oberen Schmiedgasse.

In 1489 he made together with the goldsmith Hans Krug the Elder. Ä. two drinking bowls for Emperor Friedrich III. on. In 1492 he made a trip to Linz , where he met the emperor in order to deliver unspecified goldsmith's work to him (Dürer's letter from Linz to his wife, now in the Germanic National Museum ).

In 1502 Dürer died of the dysentery . He was buried in Nuremberg on September 20th.

Works

Although Albrecht Dürer d. Ä. when goldsmith made a big name, none of his work can be assigned with certainty today.

Preserved possible works

Goldsmith work

  • Double cup, around 1470–1480, Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna. This work was attributed to the master of Heinrich Kohlhaussen . In doing so, he presumably relied on a surviving replica of a similar, but now lost, “double cup” that was in the collection of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg . However, this attribution received little recognition, so that the very beautiful cup will continue to be exhibited as a work by an anonymous Nuremberg master.

drawings

  • Tournament rider ( silver pen drawing ), around 1480, Kupferstichkabinett Berlin . The drawing was long attributed to Albrecht Dürer the Younger as an early work, as a later inscription "1508 A. d." Left a wrong trace on the upper edge. According to the style, the creation date must be earlier. Today most researchers consider the drawing to be a work by Albrecht Dürer the Elder. Ä. It is a sample book sheet - probably a tracing of a rider's seal .
  • Self-portrait (silver pen drawing), 1486, Albertina , Vienna. The drawing was considered to be the work of his son Albrecht Dürer until 1957, but is now mostly considered the work of Albrecht Dürer the Elder. Ä. viewed.

Works with documentary evidence

A large number of works are evidenced by old documents.

  • Two silver plates for the musicians of Nuremberg (1471)
  • 24 gilded silver trophies for the city of Nuremberg, four of them with lids (1477)
  • Multipart drinkware for the bishop of Posen, Uriel von Gorka (1486)
  • Two silver drinking bowls for the Emperor Friedrich III. (1489)
  • Two monstrances to hold a thorn of Christ's crown of thorns and a scourge knot for the Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Nuremberg (1489/90)
  • Double cup from the possession of Albrechts von Brandenburg .

Portraits

First portrait

The portrait of Albrecht Dürer d. Ä. with rosary (see picture above) was painted around 1490 by Albrecht Dürer at the age of only 19 and represents his then 63-year-old father. It is now in the Uffizi in Florence.

The portrait is 47 cm high and 39 cm wide, painted on wood. It was subsequently signed with the monogram (by Dürer?) And dated to 1490. The coat of arms of the Dürer-Holper can be seen on the back. The picture must have been taken before Dürer's wandering, which he began on April 11, 1490. The picture is not in good condition and shows some damage, especially on the background.

The picture is a chest portrait showing Dürer's father in a slightly diagonal position against a dark green background. He is dressed in a wide, brown, fur-lined jacket, under which the black undergarment can be seen. He wears a dark, fur-lined cap on his head, from which the well-groomed, wavy hair, which is barely gray, peeks out. He is playing with a kind of necklace or rosary made of coral-colored balls, while his gaze is thoughtfully, almost skeptically, directed into the distance.

Second portrait

Albrecht Dürer the Elder Ä. (1497), painted by his son Albrecht Dürer

This portrait by Albrecht Dürer the Elder Ä. was painted by Dürer in 1497 at the age of 26 and depicts his then 70-year-old father.

The portrait is 51 cm high, 41 cm wide, painted on linden wood and signed and dated on the upper edge: 1497 ALBRECHT THURER DER ELTER VND 70 JOR . There are several versions of the picture, of which the one in the National Gallery in London is now regarded as the original, even though it has long been accepted as a copy or forgery due to the poor condition of the lettering and the background. There are other versions in the Städel in Frankfurt, in an English collection and in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, which are considered copies. The image was distributed in an etching by Wenceslaus Hollar .

It represents the visibly aged father who is dressed in the same fur jacket as in the first picture. He is depicted in a representative pose in front of an orange background - which looks like a primer on closer inspection. His posture is hunched, the 63-year-old has lost his elasticity, his face and neck are emaciated, full of wrinkles, and his once full lips have become thin lines. In contrast to the older portrait, he looks at the viewer with his skeptical look. From his dark brown cap, the edge of which is opened with the ear flaps, the gray, sparse hair peeks out. Except for three fingertips on his left hand, he has hidden his hands in the wide sleeves of his fur jacket.

In terms of composition and color palette, the two pictures are alike - apart from the different background colors - while in terms of proportions and painterly perfection - the later picture, unlike the first, shows no pentimenti - the younger picture is superior to the first. Both images are characterized by the haunting capture of the personality of the sitter.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Rupprich (Ed.): Dürer's written estate, Berlin 1956, vol. 1, p. 32, note 13.

Web links

Commons : Albrecht Dürer the Elder  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Dürer, Albrecht the Elder
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German goldsmith
DATE OF BIRTH around 1427
PLACE OF BIRTH Ajtós at Gyula
DATE OF DEATH buried September 20, 1502
Place of death Nuremberg