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Dürer and the 16th Century
It was Albrecht Dürer who decided to make a living primarily from prints rather than paintings, raising the artistic level and status of the woodcut in the late 1490s. A trip to Italy (1494-95), where he saw the work of Andrea Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, and Antonio de Pollaiuolo, tremendously influenced him. Inspired by these masters of the Italian Renaissance, he gave figures a sculptural monumentality and devised dynamic compositions with expressive figures in convincing spatial constructions. Moreover, Dürer developed calligraphic lines that swell and taper to model form and describe texture. The sophistication of Dürer's achievement-his technical virtuosity and stylistic innovations-is apparent in The Apocalypse (1498), remarkable as the first book in Western art to be both published and illustrated by a major artist and for the uniformly large scale of the illustrations.
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One of the fifteen woodcuts, The Four Horsemen , is a tour de force. The first horseman, with a bow and crown, is the Conqueror; the second, with a sword, signifies War; the third, with the scales of justice, represents Justice; and the fourth, on a pale horse, is Death, followed by Hell. The vigorous momentum of the riders, who trample everything in their path, creates an extremely powerful image.
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| Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528). The Apocalypse: The Four Horsemen, 1498; woodcut. Gift of the Print Club of Cleveland 1932.313 |
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After 1510, Dürer's style changed dramatically. Instead of a wealth of detail, his prints show greater simplicity and the compositions are more unified. Whereas earlier the effect was based on line, now tonal contrast dominates. By using a system of parallel lines, crosshatching and dashes of varying densities, Dürer expanded the range of tones from black and white to include a span of grays. In addition, white areas of the paper were utilized to heighten parts of the composition for an intensely dramatic effect. The Holy Trinity represents the pinnacle of Dürer's achievement in woodcut.
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| Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528). The Holy Trinity, 1511; woodcut. Gift of the President and Directors of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 1926.106 |
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Throughout the 16th century, woodcuts were used extensively as single sheets or book illustrations to serve a wide range of religious, secular, and political purposes. Both Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian and Friedrich the Wise, Elector of Saxony sponsored printmaking to promote the artistic and intellectual vitality of their courts and to spread their fame. Such aristocratic patronage was a critical factor in elevating the Northern woodcut to the highest level of artistic expression.
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Titian
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