The Early Durer

This book is devoted to Albrecht Dürer’s early art and the circumstances of the young painter’s life that enabled his unique work.

Literature about Dürer fills library shelves. Does this mean everything has already been said about the artist? Far from it, according to the scholars at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum and their international partners in the Early Dürer Project. Their essays deal with the core phenomena of Dürer’s early work, ranging from the artist’s biography and surroundings to the question of Dürer’s role as the archetype of the modern artist.

New sociological approaches allow us to interpret Dürer’s ‘ideal neighbourhood’ as a source of inspiration for the artist’s work, resituating Dürer in the artistic context of his time, at an exciting crossroad between the imitation of traditional painting and the self-conscious renewal of his profession.

Photographs of Dürer’s early work, many of which are new and published here for the first time, complete the publication, which will establish a new basis for a modern understanding of Germany’s most famous artist.