Ulrich Varnbüler
1522, printed c. 1620
Medium
Woodcut in black on ivory laid paper with added brown and sepia tone blocks
Dimensions
Image/sheet, trimmed within platemark: 43 × 32.7 cm (16 15/16 × 12 7/8 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
36035
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
For this work, Albrecht Dürer produced a drawing of his sitter from life, later turning it into a dramatic black-and-white woodcut. Almost a century later, the same block was reprinted in the Netherlands with two extra tone blocks in order to add color and increase the sculptural qualities of the image. A fashion for chiaroscuro drawings (which feature heightened contrasts of light and dark) in complementary colors likely influenced this choice, as did the fact that the original woodblock was be...
About the Artist
Albrecht Dürer · 1471–1528
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) stands as the preeminent figure of the Northern Renaissance and arguably the most influential artist in the history of printmaking. Born in Nuremberg on May 21, 1471, and dying in the same city on April 6, 1528, Dürer revolutionized the status of the artist in Northern Europe, transforming printmaking from a commercial craft into an independent fine art and establishing ...