Editing Albrecht Dürer (section)

===Return to Nuremberg (1495–1505)===
On his return to [[Nuremberg]] in 1495, Dürer opened his own workshop (being married was a requirement for this). Over the next five years, his style increasingly integrated Italian influences into underlying Northern forms. Arguably his best works in the first years of the workshop were his woodcut prints, mostly religious, but including secular scenes such as ''The Men's Bath'' ({{Circa|1496}}). These were larger and more finely cut than the great majority of German woodcuts hitherto, and far more complex and balanced in composition.

It is now thought unlikely that Dürer cut any of the woodblocks himself; this task would have been performed by a specialist craftsman. However, his training in Wolgemut's studio, which made many carved and painted altarpieces and both designed and cut woodblocks for woodcut, evidently gave him great understanding of what the technique could be made to produce, and how to work with block cutters. Dürer either drew his design directly onto the woodblock itself, or glued a paper drawing to the block. Either way, his drawings were destroyed during the cutting of the block.

[[File:Dürer Alte Pinakothek.jpg|thumb|Dürer's [[Self-Portrait (Dürer, Munich)|self-portrait at 28]] (1500). [[Alte Pinakothek]], Munich.]]

His series of sixteen designs for the ''Apocalypse''<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.payer.de/christentum/apokalypse.htm| title = Johannesapokalypse in klassischen Comics}}</ref> is dated 1498, as is his engraving of ''[[St. Michael Fighting the Dragon-Albrecht Durer|St. Michael Fighting the Dragon]]''. He made the first seven scenes of the ''Great Passion'' in the same year, and a little later, a series of eleven on the [[Holy Family]] and saints. The ''[[Polyptych of the Seven Sorrows|Seven Sorrows Polyptych]]'', commissioned by [[Frederick III, Elector of Saxony|Frederick III of Saxony]] in 1496, was executed by Dürer and his assistants c.&nbsp;1500. In 1502, Dürer's father died. Around 1503–1505 Dürer produced the first 17 of a set illustrating the ''[[Life of the Virgin]]'', which he did not finish for some years. Neither these nor the ''Great Passion'' were published as sets until several years later, but prints were sold individually in considerable numbers.<ref name="Bartrum"/>

During the same period Dürer perfected the difficult art of using the [[Burin (engraving)|burin]] to make engravings. Most likely he had learned this skill during his early training with his father, as it was also an essential skill of the goldsmith. In 1496 he executed the ''Prodigal Son'', which the Italian Renaissance art historian [[Giorgio Vasari]] singled out for praise some decades later, noting its Germanic quality. He was soon producing some spectacular and original images, notably ''Nemesis'' (1502), ''The Sea Monster'' (1498), and ''Saint Eustace'' ({{circa|1501}}), with a highly detailed landscape background and animals. His landscapes of this period, such as ''Pond in the Woods'' and ''Willow Mill'', are quite different from his earlier watercolours. There is a much greater emphasis on capturing atmosphere, rather than depicting topography. He made a number of [[Madonna (art)|Madonna]]s, single religious figures, and small scenes with comic peasant figures. Prints are highly portable and these works made Dürer famous throughout the main artistic centres of Europe within a very few years.<ref name="Bartrum"/>

The Venetian artist [[Jacopo de' Barbari]], whom Dürer had met in Venice, visited Nuremberg in 1500, and Dürer said that he learned much about the new developments in [[perspective (graphical)|perspective]], [[anatomy]], and [[Body proportions|proportion]] from him.<ref name="se" /> To Dürer it seemed that De' Barbari was unwilling to explain everything he knew, so he began his own studies, which would become a lifelong preoccupation. A series of extant drawings show Dürer's experiments in human proportion, leading to the famous engraving of ''[[Adam and Eve (Dürer)|Adam and Eve]]'' (1504), which shows his subtlety while using the burin in the texturing of flesh surfaces.<ref name="Bartrum"/> This is the only existing engraving signed with his full name.

Dürer created large numbers of preparatory drawings, especially for his paintings and engravings, and many survive, most famously the ''[[Betende Hände]]'' (''Praying Hands'') from circa 1508, a study for an apostle in the Heller altarpiece. He continued to make images in watercolour and [[bodycolour]] (usually combined), including a number of still lifes of meadow sections or animals, including his ''[[Young Hare]]'' (1502) and the ''[[Great Piece of Turf]]'' (1503).

<gallery widths="116" heights="155">
Albrecht Dürer - The Men’s Bath - Google Art Project.jpg|The Men's Bath, {{Circa|1496}}, woodcut, 39.2&nbsp;×&nbsp;28.3&nbsp;cm, ([[Art Institute of Chicago]])
10 The Prodigal Son.jpg|''The Prodigal Son'' (1496), copper engraving, 24.7&nbsp;×&nbsp;19.1&nbsp;cm ([[Rijksmuseum]], Amsterdam)
Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve, 1504, Engraving.jpg|''[[Adam and Eve (Dürer)|Adam and Eve]]'' (1504), copper engraving, 29.8&nbsp;×&nbsp;21.1&nbsp;cm ([[Morgan Library & Museum]], New York)
File:Albrecht Dürer - Hare, 1502 - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Young Hare]]'', 1502, watercolour and gouache, 25&nbsp;×&nbsp;22.5&nbsp;cm, [[Albertina, Vienna]]
Albrecht Dürer - The Large Piece of Turf, 1503 - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Large Piece of Turf]]'' (1503), watercolour and gouache w/highlighting, 40,8&nbsp;×&nbsp;31,5&nbsp;cm, Albertina
Albrecht Dürer - Praying Hands, 1508 - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Praying Hands (Dürer)|Praying Hands]]'' ({{circa|1508}}), brush, ink and gray [[Wash (visual arts)|wash]] on blue paper, 29.1&nbsp;×&nbsp;19.7&nbsp;cm, Albertina
</gallery>