Albrecht Dürer

21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528

Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the Northern Renaissance, based in Nuremberg. His engravings and woodcuts, including the Apocalypse series and Melencolia I, spread his fame across Europe, and his treatises on measurement and human proportion helped bring Renaissance theory to the German-speaking world. He is widely regarded as the greatest German artist of his age.

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Life events

Born in Nuremberg
21 May 1471

Albrecht Dürer was born the third child of a Hungarian-born goldsmith in the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Apprenticed to painter Michael Wolgemut
1486 – 1489

After initial training in his father's goldsmith workshop, Dürer was apprenticed to Nuremberg's leading painter and woodcut designer, Michael Wolgemut.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Wanderjahre journey through the Upper Rhine
1490 – 1494

Dürer spent his journeyman years traveling, working in cities including Basel and Strasbourg and absorbing the print culture of the region.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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First journey to Italy
1494 – 1495

Months after his wedding Dürer crossed the Alps to Venice, where he studied Italian Renaissance art at first hand.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relocation ✓
Married Agnes Frey
7 July 1494

Dürer married Agnes Frey, daughter of a Nuremberg craftsman, in an arranged marriage that remained childless.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relationship ✓
Published the Apocalypse woodcut series
1498

Dürer published his fifteen large woodcuts illustrating the Book of Revelation, a self-published series that made him famous across Europe.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Second Italian journey and the Feast of the Rose Garlands
1505 – 1507

Dürer returned to Venice, where he painted the Feast of the Rose Garlands altarpiece for the German merchant community.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Created the master engravings
1513 – 1514

In 1513-1514 Dürer produced his three so-called master engravings: Knight, Death and the Devil; Saint Jerome in His Study; and Melencolia I.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Journey to the Netherlands
July 1520 – July 1521

Dürer traveled through the Low Countries to attend the coronation of Charles V and secure his imperial pension, keeping a detailed travel diary.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relocation ✓
Died in Nuremberg
6 April 1528

Dürer died in his native city at fifty-six, months before his Four Books on Human Proportion was published.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓