Albrecht Dürer is one of the most famous German renaissance artists. He was a contemporary of the Italian artists Raphael and Leonardo.
Albrecht Dürer, one of the most famous painters and printmakers in German history, was born on this day in 1471. He was born in Nuremberg to a Hungarian father. He was a contemporary of many famous renaissance artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, and Raffaello Santi (better known simply as Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael).
Dürer became an artist at an early age, and rose to become one of the most distinguished renaissance masters in Germany. His body of work includes engravings, altarpieces, portraits, self-portraits, watercolors and books. His engravings Knight, Death, and the Devil, Saint Jerome in his Study, and Melencolia I are widely considered masterpieces and remain some of the most discussed renaissance pieces in general. He is also known for his innovations in the medium of woodcuts, and was one of the first European landscape artists. Dürer lived to be 56, dying in 1528 in his hometown, Nuremberg.
