ARMS WITH THE SKULL
Albrecht Dürer
LIFE OF THE VIRGIN: REST IN EGYPT
Woodcut. Albrecht Dürer
The fullness of Dürer’s powers as an engraver is manifested in the three plates which typify man’s attitude toward life. First comes the good, steadfast knight, the champion of righteousness, unmindful of his weird escort of death and a hellish monster as he wends his way through a dark defile to his home on a distant sunlit hill. We then see despondent, bitter Melancholy, vainly demanding of science the answer to life’s riddle. Finally, we come to St. Jerome, serene in his chosen solitude: a mind resigned, at peace with the world which has been left behind. These engravings take a very high rank, indeed, in German art. Such technique of engraving as that here found had never before been even approached: broad gleams of sunlight brighten the room, striking the walls and floor; in the silvery half-light every texture, every substance is expressed by differentiations of the graver-stroke. Yet with all the infinite detail which abounds in the plate, the tonality is so sustained and detail so discreetly introduced, that the general feeling, after all, is one of simplicity.
ST. JEROME IN HIS STUDY
Albrecht Dürer
One other aspect of Dürer’s genius must be introduced, namely, his mastery in portraiture. In the strong face of Cardinal Albrecht of Mayence, the keenest observation of the man is revealed with means astonishingly simple. Notice how far from extreme depth the shadings have been kept; all in the range of silvery grays, which Dürer sought in preference to dark shadows. The values in the figure, the arms and the inscription have all received careful consideration from this master whose genius was, indeed, the faculty of taking infinite pains.