Dürer, Albrecht ___ 1471-1528 ___ German ___ painter

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Dürer was born in Nuremberg, one of many sons, to a successful Hungarian goldsmith. After some training with his father, he was apprenticed to the painter and woodcut designer Michael Wolgemut for three years, from 1486-1489. He then spent five years travelling around Germany, Switzerland and Italy meeting other artists. In 1494, Dürer married Agnes Frey, the daughter of a wealthy jeweller and musical instrument maker, and, settled in Nuremberg (although he visited Italy again in 1505-1507). He opened his own workshop to produce high quality prints, and was eventually elected a member of the Nuremberg Greater Council. He produced his famous 'Apocalypse' series of woodcuts in 1498. During the next two decades, he produced further series such as 'Life of the Virgin', the 'Great Passion' and the 'Little Passion'. Dürer received commissions for several projects from the Emperor Maximilian I who granted him an annuity in 1515. In 1520-21, after Maxmillian's death, Dürer travelled with his wife to the Netherlands to see Charles V, and succeeded in getting his annuity restored. During the journey, he wrote a very detailed diary. In the latter years of his life, he developed ideas of art theory and mathematics, publishing several books, 'Treatise of Measurement' for example, and produced some monumental works such as the 'Four Apostles'.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1520-1521 ___ social travel art royalty Holland

WEB TEXT LINKS
a lot of information about the diary
one quote
 

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Diary of his Journey to the Netherlands, 1520-1521
 

May 2005, June 2008
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.