6/2/07 - History of Art - Text and Image: Dürer's Changing View of Himself

We don't need to know the artist to be able to judge his work. But when we view a work of art, is our perception affected by what we know about the artist?

In his Arrangement in Grey and Black, 1871, Whistler tried to cover up the fact that he had painted his mother by drawing attention instead to the aesthetics of the painting. And in Hockney's My Parents, 1977, we needn't know that his subjects were his parents but we find it more significant or more interesting when we know they are. It is compelling for us to look for personal references in paintings.

Does not knowing much about the artists affect the way we view medieval works of art? Do we feel more detached from them?

However, it is increasingly common in the fifteenth century to find personal references in pictures. It is possible to read Pol de Limbourg's personality in his manuscript page for January, c.1409. But Van Eyck's personality in his alleged Self-Portrait, 1433, is less easy to read, although we might get a sense of his mode of dress. Campin was documented as being miscreant and he got into trouble frequently, but there is no sign of this in his work and knowing his personality sheds no light on it either. Van der Goes had a mental illness which involved having visions, and was attributed to a melancholic personality. His biographer, Gaspar Offhuys wrote in the early 16th century: "One night ... brother Hugo [van der Goes, the painter] was struck by a strange disorder of his imagination. He cried out incessantly that he was doomed and condemned to eternal damnation. He would have even injured himself had he not been forcibly prevented from doing so by his companions." Does his altarpiece give any clue of his illness?

Dürer lived 1471-1528 and worked mostly in Nuremberg. We know a lot about his personality, beliefs and his life. He was deeply religious, affected by the religious upheavals of his time (the Reformation). He was well educated in the seven liberal arts, classical philosophy and the occult. He left behind copious amounts of self-documentation, including extensive letters, diaries, treatises and other writings. He was conscious not only of his position in society - a prominent, leading artist, not just a talented craftsman - but also of his position in history. Dürer himself is part of his art. In other words, his own personality counted in what he was doing.

He drew and painted several self-portraits throughout his life. His earliest is a drawing from when he was 13 years old. He sketched himself again at age 19, depicting his mood. He used the quick media of pen and ink to capture the image in time. He painted a formal self-portrait at age 22, in which we see him as a flamboyant dresser, with eccentric, detailed costume. This was obviously not commissioned but done out of interest. It was completed around the time that he married Agnes by an arrangement of their parents. The plant that he holds in his hand is a symbol of marriage. He eventually wrote that Agnes made his life hell. A later self-portrait shows all the techniques of Netherlandish painting, and again he wears a flamboyant costume. His last portrait is slightly different. He looks directly at us, although this was prohibited as blasphemous. His eyes follow the viewer around like God's. He even looks Christ-like, and almost certainly had this in mind. It evokes the idea of the artist as creator, similar to God. The kind of experimentation helped to free artist from convention.

Dürer painted his father twice, in 1490 and again in 1497. The first one is compliant with convention, while the second shows his father's personality.

Personal elements have been found in his landscapes, such as in his Lamentation. In the background is a constructed, not a real landscape. However, when Dürer painted out of interest he preferred to paint from observation, such as in Doss Trento, 1494. He developed watercolour, which was quicker than oil and allowed a good depiction of light. Later, his patrons realised that this was a new convention: pure landscapes of picturesque scenes at different times of day. Dürer continued sketching for personal satisfaction until his death; he made a sketchbook in conjunction with a diary. He was particular about recording his spending and his travels, including works of art. One entry written in conjunction with his sketches Paulus Topler and Martin Phinzing and View of Aachen Cathedral in his Netherlands sketchbook 1520-21 reads: "Thursday after Michaelmas. I spent 3 florins in company and gave 1 florin to the messenger. I have drawn the portraits of Paulus Topler and Martin Phinzing in my sketchbook. I have seen the arm of the Emperor Heinrich, the girdle of our Lady and other relics. I sketched the Church of Our Lady with its surrounding [Aachen Cathedral]. I bought a large ox-horn for 10 white pfennigs. I gave 2 pfennigs for tips ..." In another entry he wrote that the Van Eyck brothers' altarpiece was "very good" and "full of thought." He must have had a predictable personality.

He showed concern for Martin Luther and his religion in an entry about Luther's imprisonment: "On Friday ... came tidings that Martin Luther had been treacherously taken prisoner ... Never, oh God, hast Thou so horribly burdened a people with human laws as us poor folk under Roman chair, who daily long to be free Christians. On highest, heavenly Father, pour into our hearts, through Thy Son, Jesus Christ, such a light that by it we may know what messenger we are bound to obey ... And if we have lost this man, who has written more clearly than anyone, and to whom Thou hast given such a spirit of the Gospel, we pray Thee, Oh heavenly Father, that Thou wouldst again give thy Hold Spirit to someone so that we may again live free ... Every man who reads Martin Luther's books may see how clear and transparent is his doctrine, based on Holy Gospel ... Oh God, if Luther be dead, who will henceforth expound to us the Holy Gospel with such clarity."

Dürer's altarpiece shows an interest in dogma. He completed four independent paintings of individual apostles expounding Luther's view that man explain the Bible to prevent idolatry. Dürer made an engraving of Melancholia I. It can be taken as an expression of his own feelings, something done for commercial gain (the pose is taken from his self-portrait). Melancholy was associated with creativity, vision and maths. Generally it was considered to be an artistic humour. Dürer himself was drawn to the visionary, for example in his Apocalypse engravings. He even recorded dreams and commented on a St Jerome painting on the back of a canvas.

In conclusion, Dürer's art has a very personal side to it, a new development in northern European art. Religious developments of the time helped Dürer to feel that he was being freed from the traditional demands of religious art. His personality, with its eccentricities and mixture of melancholic and extrovert attitudes, was consciously cultivated by Dürer himself. He connected it to the more imaginative and visionary aspect of his artistic creativity, where he felt his main contribution to art lay.