Was Dürer’s father an artist? Automatic translate

BERLIN. The portrait of Dürer’s father, who has always been an art historian for the works of Albrecht Jr., is quite possibly a self-portrait of his father, Albrecht the Elder. If this is true, then this fact radically changes our understanding of the work of the young artist. Perhaps he was not at all a genius who grew up in complete cultural isolation, as is currently believed, but, on the contrary, was the son of a talented artist who remained unknown to the world.

The author of the revolutionary theory was Stephan Kemperdick (Stephan Kemperdick), curator of the department of German and Dutch painting in the Berlin Gallery of old masters (Gemäldegalerie). He put forward his assumption in an essay for the catalog of the exhibition Albrecht Dürer: His Art in Context, held at the Frankfurt’s Städel Museum, which runs until February 2, 2014.

Until now, it was believed that Albrecht Jr. painted paired portraits of his father and mother. These two works are in Uffizi Gallery (Uffizi Gallery) in Florence and the German National Museum (Germanisches Nationalmuseum) in Nuremberg, respectively. Presumably, both works were created around 1490, when the young Dürer was 19 years old. But the style of the two portraits is significantly different: the father is depicted with much greater naturalness. Based on this clear difference and the fact that the controversial portrait has a “surprising resemblance” to the only known self-portrait of Albrecht the Elder, made in the unusual technique of drawing a picture with a silver needle, Kemperdick argues that the real author of the picture is not Dürer the younger, but his father.

Kemperdik believes that the version previously put forward by art critics that Dürer used his father’s silver self-portrait as a template for his painting is extremely unlikely, because Dürer was too talented an artist to be willing to imitate anyone. If the authorship of the canvas belongs to Albrecht Sr., then this work is the earliest self-portrait in the history of European fine art.

From a family chronicle written by Albrecht Jr., it follows that his father, a goldsmith, spent a long time among the Dutch "künstlern", until his move to Nuremberg in 1455. Scientists argue about what the German word "künstlern" means in this context, whether it refers to jewelers or artists. Kemperdik also refers to the fact that recent infra-red studies of the portrait showed that initially, the background for the figure of Albrecht the Elder was a wall with windows, which is a feature of Dutch painting. True, then the window was painted over by the artist himself.

The curator of the department of German and Dutch painting claims that Albrecht Sr. in the Netherlands improved his skills precisely as an artist, but then, having moved to Germany, he worked as a jeweler. Perhaps he painted his self-portrait as a model for his even more talented son, whom he himself probably taught. If the version of Kemperdick is correct, then this opens the season of hunting for other works of Albrecht the Elder, which may well exist.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru