Northern Renaissance: Albrecht Durer

Albrecht Durer was a man of Northern Renaissance who established his reputation across Europe in the 16th century. Durer has secured his reputation until today and has been conventionally regarded as one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance in Northern Europe. He is still very much discussed among artists and many art historians and for the people who do not have any interests in art even knows some of his art works. Durer’s works are extensively analyzed and interpreted but traditional art historians, in general, merely focused on iconography or Durer’s artistic skills in depicting architectural perspective. In this paper, we will explore Durer’s woodcut printmaking in the context of commercial use and narrow down this discussion to
In Europe, there has been a huge innovation of new technology, printmaking, relatively a little late compared to other parts of the world, but this mass production meant a powerful vehicle of communication in 16th century Germany. In Durer’s letters to Willibald Pirckheimer (1506) and Durer’s diary of his journey to the Netherlands(1502-1) well demonstrate this point. In his writings, we can see that Durer had a businessman’s viewpoint on the potential of printmaking in the market, in relation to commercial gains which naturally followed by publicity and popularity. Durer well acknowledged of the idea that this reproducible printmaking press has power to spread his ideas and designs to be exposed in other regions or countries by a vast range of ‘unknown audience'. But it is also noteworthy that in terms of choosing medium, Durer’s works are primarily woodcut rather than engraving or etching. Although he is also well known for engraving and etching, but we see his graphic practice are mostly printed and manifested in the form of book. In this respect, Peter Schmidt raises the question ‘why woodcut?’ and he spotlights Durer’s great visibility as an artist entrepreneur across profitable geographic regions. In the late 1400s, Albrecht Durer was born in Nuremburg which is at the center of Europe trades that was significant geographic part for its international fairs. The city of Nuremburg was flourished with the publication, known as ‘The Nuremburg chronicle’, by Durer’s godfather Anton Koberger, publishing illustrated books. In 1498 through the publication of Apocalyse, which proudly showcasing Durer’s mastery of the woodcut skills, Durer’s fame was already attained across Europe when he only reaches his