: Revered by all who knew his imaginative, meticulous work,
including admirer Michelangelo, Albrecht Dürer was a genius
beyond his time who etched his soul on German culture,
Renaissance life and the craft of design throughout the art
world. Dürer (1471-1528), widely regarded as one of the greatest
and most influential artists of the Renaissance, transformed the
art of printmaking forever.
A current exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts reveals
his daunting intellectual capacity and lifelong passion for
creation through prints from the artist's northern European
homeland. Drawn from the collection of one of the oldest
institutions in Europe, the Academy of Visual Arts in Vienna,
founded in 1692, "Albrecht Dürer: A Renaissance Journey in
Print," presents 83 of his most celebrated prints. The exhibition
will be on view through January 9.
Dürer's prints, which were sold throughout Europe during his
lifetime, brought him international celebrity, and he was
considered to be the most famous artist of his period. Most
familiar among them is his Apocalypse woodcut series, first
published in 1498, which presents a haunting vision of the Book
of Revelation. Dürer's "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" print is
one of the most famous images from the German Renaissance. The
entire series will be on view, as will his woodcut series on the
"Passion of Christ" and on the "Life of Mary," admired
particularly for their beautiful compositions and imaginative
architectural material.
