(Above) Albrecht Dürer, ‘Adam and Eve’, engraving, 1504. © The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow
Exhibition: Dürer and Italy at the Hunterian Art Gallery until March 22 2010.
Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum is mining its superb collection of Renaissance prints for an exploration of the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance, German artist Albrecht Dürer (May 21 1471 – April 6 1528).
Focussing on Dürer’s engravings, the show reveals how influential his prints were in Italy by displaying his engraved masterpieces alongside contemporary Italian works.
This surprising cultural exchange took place in the years 1500-1528 and reflects Dürer’s early fascination with Italian art. His godfather, the Nuremberg publisher Anton Koberger, traded books and prints with Venice, contributing to the young artist’s enthusiasm.
Two journeys to Italy were made in 1494 and 1505-7, on which Dürer promoted himself as an artist, studied art, and met engravers and exponents of the art of perspective, which was still unknown in Germany.
Albrecht Dürer, ‘The Sea Monster’, engraving, c.1498. © The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow
During these trips he packed with him sets of portable engravings and his work was soon known to Raphael in Rome, just as Dürer as a young man in Nuremberg, knew engravings by Italian artists.
Dürer’s prints were of two kinds: for the popular market he designed woodcuts, which were cheap and often sold as bound sets. The most popular were two series of the ‘Passion of Christ’ and another of the ‘Life of the Virgin’ (1511).
His astonishingly detailed engravings were relatively expensive and appealed more to artists and collectors. They present figures and landscapes of unparalleled beauty that rapidly became highly fashionable in Italy.
Wenceslas Hollar after Dürer, ‘Portrait of Dürer’, etching, 1645. © The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow
Among the Italian artists the great Raphael did not make prints himself, but since he wished to publish his imagery, he provided sketches to be engraved by artists such as Marcantonio who was one of many Italian artists heavily influenced by Dürer’s prints.
Two of Marcantonio's best known works, his ‘Judgement of Paris’ and ‘Massacre of the Innocents’ are on display and provide a beautiful if somewhat dry counterpoint to Dürer's detailed and rich works that reveal his roots in Gothic illustration.
