Interesting Facts About Albrecht Durer
Albrecht Durer was a German artist who built a fortune from printmaking, signed his work with a famous AD monogram, and fought one of the first copyright battles in history when other printers copied it.
He was the rare old master who got rich and famous in his own lifetime, and he did it with ink on paper.
He got rich from prints, not paintings
Paintings sold one at a time. Engravings and woodcuts sold by the hundred. Durer printed in volume and his wife Agnes sold the sheets at fairs across Europe. That is how a craftsman's son became wealthy.
He fought an early copyright war
In Venice, the engraver Marcantonio Raimondi copied Durer's prints, monogram included. Durer took the case to the Venetian authorities around 1506. The court let the copies continue but banned the use of his AD mark. It stands as one of the earliest legal fights over a brand.
He drew a rhino he never saw
His 1515 Rhinoceros woodcut was made from a written report and a quick sketch. The plated, armored body is wrong, yet it was copied into textbooks for three hundred years because it simply looked right to people who had also never seen one.
He painted himself like Christ
His self portrait of 1500 faces the viewer head on, in a pose reserved for images of Christ. For an artist to claim that frame was a daring statement about the dignity of the maker.
What people still ask about Durer
When did he die? In 1528, in Nuremberg.
What is he famous for? Melencolia I, the Young Hare, Praying Hands, and his self portraits.
Did he really defend a trademark? He was among the first to take one to court.
Where can I see his work? The Albertina in Vienna holds the famous watercolors.
For the whole life and the prints that built it, read the full Durer story.