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Albrecht Dürer was born on May twenty-first 1471 in Nuremberg, Germany. He was the second oldest of 18 children, and his parents were Albrecht Dürer the Elder and Barbara Holper.
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When Dürer was 13, he became an apprentice to his father, who was a goldsmith,and drew his first self portrait. When he was about 15, he left the apprenticeship to paint, which his father didn't like, and became the apprentice of Michael Wolgemut. Dürer did the apprenticeship between 3 and 4 years, and learned how to create woodcuts.
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In 1490, Dürer painted a picture of his father. Dürer then left Nuremberg in April to travel.
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In May, Dürer went back to Nuremberg, and married Agnes Frey on July 7th.
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Soon after returning to Nuremberg, the plague began to spread, and it motivated Dürer to leave town, and he traveled to Venice. Dürer stayed there until the spring of 1495, before returning to Nuremberg where he began his careers in printmaking and painting. In 1496, he became successful after receiving commissions from Frederick the Wise.
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In 1498, Dürer finished the woodcut series The Apocalypse, making him famous all around Europe. In 1505, the plague returned to Europe, and Dürer once again left Nuremberg to travel to Venice, but he was such a well known artist then, that some people tried to copy his work. He even went to court to try to stop Marcantonio Raimondi from copying his work. While in Italy, Dürer was inspired to study things like linear proportion and Humanism. After leaving, he decided to study in Bologna to learn.
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While studying in Bologna, Dürer saw some of the work of Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci. Dürer left to visit Rome, returned to Venice, then went back to Nuremberg.
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In 1520, Dürer traveled to the Netherlands on August 3, 1520, where he was influenced by Lucas van Leyden. Dürer later returned to Nuremberg at the beginning of August the next year.
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Toward the end of his life, Dürer began to write more. He wrote The Teaching of Measurements (1525), Various Instructions of the Fortifications of Towns, Castles and Large Villages of 1527, and Four Books on Human Proportion (1528.)
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Albrecht Dürer died on April 6th, 1528, possibly of malaria.
His writing, Four Books on Human Proportion, was published after he died. -
