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| Artist | Albrecht Dürer |
|---|---|
| Year | 1500 |
| Type | Oil on wood panel |
| Dimensions | 66.3 cm × 49 cm (26.1 in × 19.3 in) |
| Location | Alte Pinakothek, Munich |
Self-Portrait (also known as Self Portrait at Twenty-Eight Years Old Wearing a Coat with Fur Collar)[1] is a painting of 1500 on wood panel by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). It is widely considered his pre-eminent self-portrait.
In its directness, the portrait is unlike any that came before: half-length, frontal, and highly symmetrical. The lack of a conventional background highlights the artist without regard to his time or place. The central placement of the inscriptions within the dark fields on either side of Dürer brings them forward to the plane of the artist, as if floating in space, emphasizing that the portrait has a highly symbolic purpose.
Dürer presents himself monumentally in a format traditionally used for depictions of Christ—the implications of which have stirred debate among art critics. A conservative interpretation suggests that Dürer is responding to the tradition of the Imitation of Christ. The more controversial view reads the painting as a proclamation of the artist's individual identity and his role as creator. This latter view is supported by the painting's Latin inscription, which reads in English as "I Albrecht Durer of Nuremberg portrayed myself in colors aged twenty-eight years".
In the medieval stages of life, 28 marked the transition from youth to maturity.[2] The portrait celebrates this turning point in the life of the artist, and the turning point of the millennium: the year 1500, displayed in the centre of the upper left background field, is here celebrated as epochal. Morever, the placing of the year 1500 above his signature initials, A.D., gives them an added meaning as an abbreviation of Anno Domini. The painting may have been created as part of a celebration of the saeculum by Conrad Celtis' circle of humanists.[3]
In popular culture
In the Francis Ford Copolla adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, there was a scene where the painting was pointed out by Dracula as that of his ancestor Vlad Tepes.
Notes
Sources
- Koerner, Joseph Leo. The moment of self-portraiture in German Renaissance art. University of Chicago Press, 1996. ISBN 0-2264-4999-8
- Shiner, Larry. The Invention of Art: A Cultural History. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-2267-5343-3
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