My Kid Could Paint That

Albrecht Dürer, Saint Jerome in His Study, 1514

By ETHAN DOSKEY

Albrecht Dürer, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1498

By NAYOUNG KWON

Albrecht Dürer, a German artist was famous for creating elegant, and detailed artworks by using the techniques of wood engravings. More than a few works by Dürer relate mostly to Christianity and its prophecies. In Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the chaos and destruction show the four horsemen with an angel makes claim to bring Death, Famine, War and Conquest onto human kind. Dürer have truly showcased his skills of wood engraving but also incorporated the use of mathematics in the work. The artwork flows smoothly from angel to women lying on the ground and it not too chaos for the eyes to follow. The triangle composition of the artwork stands out clearly and it grabs the viewer's attention on the Four Horsemen. The emotions of each creature and human truly show desperation, grief and destruction, which is incredible since it was created from wood.

Albrecht Dürer, Adam, 1507

by CHARNAI ANDERSON

This here is Adam. Adam was made by God from dust, and placed in the Garden of Eden with Eve. The Garden of Eden was a beautiful paradise made to perfection. Eve was made from one of Adam's ribs to be his companion. God told Adam that he could roam and eat from any tree he wanted to except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil or else he and Eve would die. One day a serpent came by and persuaded Eve that the fruit from the tree of knowledge would give her wisdom if she ate from it, and that she would know right from wrong just like God. Convinced, Eve took a piece of fruit from the fruit and took a bite and then offered it to Adam. He then ate some of the fruit, too. Unfortunately the fruit did not grant either of them wisdom they soon realized the meaning of nudity, and, embarrassed, they soon made themselves skirts out of fig leaves.

Albrecht Dürer, The Expulsion from Paradise, 1510

Albrecht Dürer, The Cook and His Wife, 1496

By NATALIE BEYER

Albrecht Dürer was a German painter and printmaker. Best known for his engravings and woodcuts, he created portraits, altarpieces, and self-portraits with his talent. Dürer is one of the most important figures in the Norther Renaissance because he applied mathematics and ideal proportions into his works. In The Cook and His Wife, Dürer etches an overweight cook and disgusted wife onto paper. The cook on the left of the etch looks as though he could eat the bird on his left shoulder at any moment and it appears that another deep breath would pop his last button on his shirt. His wife, walking alongside him, wraps a shawl around herself, almost seeming as though she has gotten away with a dirty trick. Fortunately for us, there is a more compelling story that goes along with this etching.

For many years, this engraving was thought to have been just anther depiction of what life was like for peasants during in the fifteenth century. However, this print is from an episode in a book that became popular at the end of the fifteenth century. The Night of the Tower illustrates a man (the cook) who owns an eel. This man hopes that he will be able to cook this eel for a meal later on. One day, when the man was gone, his wife decided to eat the man's eel, and when the man came back home, she told him that the eel had been stolen by an otter. Unfortunately, this couple owned a talking magpie (a crow) who told the man the truth about what had happened to the eel. To punish the magpie for telling on her, she plucked all the feathers from his head and whenever the magpie saw a bald man from then on, he would ask, "so you've been talking about the eel too!"

Albrecht Durer, Feast of the Rose Garlands, 1506

By MISSY ROSENTHAL

Dürer's oil painting, Feast of the Rose Garlands transitioned northern European art from the medieval style to the northern Renaissance. This painting was originally commissioned by a German community in Venice near the Town of Fondaco de Tedeschi to be placed in the church of San Bartolomeo. This work remained in Fondaco de Tedeschi until 1606, when the piece was sold to Emperor Rudolph II in Prague. After multiple restorations and transferences to various collectors the work found its way to Czechoslovakia in the 1930s.

Dürer used stylistic elements of both the northern Europeans and the Italians. Although his figures lack depth like his northern European predecessors, he mixes multiple hues to produce a realistic skin tone like his Italian contemporaries. He attempts perspective in the background, while portraying the beauty of northern European mountains at this time period.

Dürer illustrates the story of the "Brotherhood of the Rosary" in this work. He places the Virgin Mary and Christ in the center. He blends the Italian and the German cultures symbolically by setting Pope Sixtus IV on the right of Mary and the designated German emperor Maximilian I with his imperial crown beside him on the right. Dürer shows Mary placing a garland of roses on the head of Maximilian I, hence giving him divine blessing in his future endeavors. Dürer portrays a seemingly unbalanced dichotomy throughout this work by having mountains and differing styles of dress on one side but not the other. In conclusion, Dürer depicts two opposite worlds of northern and southern Europe which are united in harmony (illustrated by the angel with the lute) around Christianity.

Albrecht Dürer, The Great Piece of Turf, 1503

Leave it to Albrecht Dürer to make grass look divine.

Really, in almost any other context or with any other painter, a painting of turf would be exactly what you'd expect it to be--lifeless, plain, or insubstantial. But left to Dürer (read: Jesus), being a self-styled king among artists, it gains a depth, weight and an unexpected experimental edge that no one would've expected otherwise. But to anyone not looking deeply enough, it's turf. Gorgeous turf, but turf nonetheless. But let's just get one thing clear before going on:

Not looking is a grave mistake.

The most immediately interesting thing that Dürer presents comes in the form of the plants themselves. Full of life and variety, the collection lacks the uniformity of "regular" grass. While there are patches of similarity, they're punctuated by smaller sprouts that pop up and vie for the sunlight. Dürer captures this push for life perfectly, even without including external imagery like a sun or a sky. In addition to that, each plant is rendered in painstaking detail, to the point where even modern photographic technology struggles to match it. It's amazing even now to think of the hours, the days, that Dürer spent gazing at the ground, hoping to God (read: himself) that he could render it correctly.

But aside from this, there can't be anything else interesting about this painting, right?

Wrong.

Aside from the variety Dürer brings to this turf, there's also a wonderfully subtle degree of depth lent to the painting that helps it feel real, in a way that many nature paintings (or Renaissance paintings in general) lack. The leaves of the plant (please excuse my dearth of horticulture knowledge) sit elegiacally at the front of the painting, contrasting with the urgency that the sprouts provide.

Albrecht Dürer, The Great Piece of Turf (detail), 1503

There's almost a spiritual component to it in that the hierarchies that prevail throughout nature feel so perfectly rendered and accepted. Even the dirt, created using jarringly experimental watercolors, feels in place. Despite featuring an amazing amount of variation and detail, the painting never feels cluttered or forced, everything is in its right place. But aside from that, there's a certain tranquility to zooming into any part of the painting and finding a new layer or new bit of detail.

Ultimately, this painting demonstrates a lot of things. First and foremost would be, to most, Dürer's outstanding ability as a painter (mind you, this is post Jesus-self-portrait), but it also showcases a lot of the ways that the Northern Renaissance represented a mindshift.

In the North, there was a greater shift towards tangible, secular ideas, a recognition of science and economics and brutality. But this shift wasn't absolute, and there are bits of spiritual and religious tradition that slip into a lot of otherwise secular paintings. But this painting demonstrates the merging of the two traditions, that there could be something divine, something transcendent, about an absolutely scientific painting of grass.

All of that in a painting of grass, and you'd be crazy not to look deeper.

Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve, 1507

Though contemporary ideas about the "ideal figure" has changed radically throughout history, our fascination with it has hardly faltered. Albrecht Dürer sought to identify this body, immaculate and supreme, in his portrayal of the first humans: Adam and Eve. Though Dürer’s competence for painting takes its place in other Dürer artworks, the above happens to be an engraving. As Adam and Eve are often depicted as the paradigm of human perfection, Dürer’s undertaking of this subject called forth his knowledge of proportion, symmetry, and other artistic techniques to accumulate into this engraving. Dürer believed that an artist could achieve a higher understanding of their creations by expanding their field of knowledge to other subjects. Naming this artistic notion kunst, Dürer applies his self-invented theory to Adam and Eve.

Scouring through Adam and Eve at close proximity, one can’t help but marvel at the sheer amount of detail hidden in every millimeter. Dürer’s intention to capture the quintessential man and woman did not fall short, but to ignore the rest would be an injustice. Accompanying the two humans, various creatures crowd around the two. Yet, despite their animal instincts, they sit in peace. The cat, settled comfortably between Adam and Eve, seems to pay little attention to the mouse near it. Even nature is involved in the parity between all living beings, as the middle tree acts as a split between Adam and Eve to symbolize their balance. Only the deceitful serpent exists as a partial being in this idyllic sanctuary.

Dürer’s primary goal for Adam and Eve was to capture the intricacies and shape of the principal human figure. For starters, he seems seems to channel Apollo as a point of reference for Adam. This is evident in Adam’s highly precise muscle definition, especially noticeable in his torso and the darkened areas of his legs. In contrast, Eve’s legs are soft and untoned. Additionally, their arms are meaningfully positioned to juxtapose one another. Adam’s left arm grasps onto a branch, while Eve’s right hand discreetly cups around a fruit as her left hand reaches out to receive the snake’s apple as well. Impressively, Dürer details their arms with realistic, striking veins, highlighted by the medium in which they are presented in. Eve’s exaggerated hair flows back and weaves together in a braid-like motion. Adam’s curls spiral about his scalp with a peculiar neatness. In seemingly every way, the two are distinguished as opposites.

So, has Dürer achieved his goal of interpreting the ideal figure? Even if he hasn’t, he’s certainly worthy of applause. No piece subsists without its flaws. The fingers on Adam’s right hand may be at a slightly wrong angle, and Eve’s right leg bends oddly — still, does it matter if he’s truly captured anatomical perfection? Dürer’s achievements with this particular engraving almost certainly outshine his slight mistakes.

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Knight, Death, and the Devil
Curated by Alex McDonald

Albrecht Durer, Knight, Death, and the Devil, 1513

Large Piece of Turf (The Great Turf), Albrecht Durer, 1503

When we first viewed Large Piece of Turf in class, I thought that the piece of art was not very interesting and didn't have much to it. When I first saw it, all I saw was grass. Then we discussed the painting more. I realized that the talent that Durer possessed in order to paint the single blades of grass was extraordinary. The realistic aspect of the painting is also quite impressive. Durer's attention to detail and color shows his dedication to the piece and how hard he worked to accomplish this in the painting. 

Albrecht Durer, Great Piece of Turf, 1503

When given the assignment "write about a painting that you don't like but could come to appreciate," Great Piece of Turf immediately popped into my head. My introduction to this painting was awkward and hurried, and I instantaneously hated it. More like, I hated the fact that I stood at the front of the class looking at it with nothing to say. First day of Art History last year was rough. Mr. Luce's 7th hour Art History has a rite of passage:  first years, mostly juniors, are forced to stand up at the front of the room, given nothing but a yard stick, and told to analyze a painting. I got Great Piece of Turf. I was lost, unhinged, and slightly angry that I sketched all summer and read all the required reading but was totally unprepared for this task. All I could see were those leafy greens staring back at me saying....nothing. This went on for a good minute or two until Mr. Luce took what I thought was mercy on me and let me sit down. The next five minutes were anything but merciful.

Even now my cheeks are heating up with embarrassment as I recall the verbal fuselage fired at the painting projected on the board. Except, one thing bothered me at the time, I didn't agree with anything said. All that fancy art history-speak about the vertical movement of the plants and the obvious religious overtones didn't mesh with me. I don't see it. I'm sorry, but I don't see it.

I see a very-well painted study of different local grasses. I see balance and depth. I see the biologically correct assignment of color. I feel calm. I feel bucolic. But I don't see or feel religious. Maybe it's because I'm not a religious person, or that sometimes things have to be obvious for me to get it, but I have never been able to see past the literal in this painting.