As we celebrate the 498th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and remember the individuals used by God to bring it about, we also do well to remember the individuals who were impacted by and served as key supporters of it. The German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer was such a man. While some in the American church may know Dürer or his art, chances are he is nothing more than a strange name you just read for the first time. Allow me the privilege to introduce you to this incredibly gifted man who was a key recipient and supporter of the Reformation.
Albrecht Durer, The Man
Albrecht Dürer was born in 1471 to Albrecht and Barbara Dürer. He was the eldest son and third of eighteen children, fifteen of which would die at a young age. His father was a Hungarian immigrant who moved to the city of Nuremberg, Germany where he worked as a goldsmith. When Durer the Younger was only thirteen, he became an apprentice to his father in Nuremberg to learn how to be a goldsmith. After only two years of apprenticing, and to the displeasure but support of his father, Albrecht left to do what he really wanted to do - paint.
After leaving his father’s tutelage he went on to apprentice for three years under the painter and printmaker Michael Wolgemut (1434-1519) also in Nuremberg. Wolgemut was the first German painter to design woodcuts as illustrations for the newly developed printed book. It was under Wolgemut that Durer learned the art of woodcut, a skill that would play a crucial role in his career and influence upon the world. After three years under Wolgemut, he went on for an additional two years as a journeyman in which he traveled to Basel, Switzerland. Upon his return to Nuremberg in 1494, Dürer married Agnes Frey in an arranged marriage. They would have no children together.
What was Durer’s relationship to the Protestant Reformation?
While we have no record of him formally renouncing Roman Catholicism, his Protestant sympathies are evident in much of his art and letters. He evidently had suffered some level of judgment for these sympathies when he wrote the following in 1524, “because of our Christian faith we have to stand in scorn and danger, for we are reviled and called heretics.” It was especially the teaching that began the Protestant Reformation, that is the forgiveness of sins by grace, through faith, in Christ, that so powerfully influenced Durer and his work. Interestingly, it was the preaching of Johan von Staupitz, Luther’s mentor and Vicar General of the German Congregation of Augustinians, that first moved Durer to embrace the rediscovered evangelical theology.
It was not just Staupitz that influenced Durer, but Luther too had a significance influence on his thinking. When Friedrich the Wise sent Dürer one of Luther's books in 1520, Dürer wrote the following to the Elector's secretary, “I pray Your Honor to convey my humble gratitude to His Electoral grace, and beg him humbly that he will protect the praiseworthy Dr. Martin Luther for the sake of Christian truth. It matters more than all the riches and power of this world, for with time everything passes away; only the truth is eternal.” It was Luther who helped Dürer find release from his spiritual distress through the preaching of the forgiveness of sins through Christ’s death and resurrection.
Dürer spent the majority of his life living in Nuremburg creating and selling art. Whether it woodcuts, engravings, paintings, or drawings, his work captured the attention and imagination of his contemporary artist and culture at large. When Luther heard of his death 1528, he wrote, “It is natural and right to weep for so excellent a man.” Today Dürer remains among the most admired artists in the history of German art.
Famous Works
As many of the great artist of his day, Dürer had a wide spectrum of skills. He created alter pieces for churches, portraits of both religious and political leaders, and engravings and woodcuts for printed material. To get an idea of the volume he created, today we have about a hundred of his paintings, some one hundred engravings, and roughly two hundred woodcuts. In addition, we have over 1,200 drawings, sketches, and watercolors. From these he was most known and renowned for graphic works. These were created from woodcuts or engravings. Artists across Europe admired and copied Durer’s innovative and powerful prints, ranging from religious and mythological scenes, to maps and exotics animals. The vast majority of his works have biblical images as their objects.
Dürer's earliest major work, The Apocalypse, was a series of large prints illustrating the book of Revelation, with the Scripture on the reverse side. Dürer's large illustrations were detailed and full of energy. His Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse has never been surpassed.
