Albrecht Dürer’s Meisterstiche Essay -- The Meistersteiche of Dürer

Albrecht Drer was a German Renaissance artist known for his prints, and books on proportion. For over a hundred years, Knight, Death and Devil,(cat. 1) revere Jerome in His Study,(cat. 2) and Melencolia I, (cat. 3) have been considered Drers Meisterstiche, or master prints.1 There are several different interpretations of these 3 engravings, the imagery with in them, and their relation to for each one other. These Master Prints are probably the most written about of Drers work. In the year 2014, we are at the 500-year anniversary of the creation of Melencolia I, and Saint Jerome in His Study, they still remain provocative, and mysterious.Albrecht Drer was born in 1471 to Albrecht Drer the Elder, a goldsmith in Nuremburg, Germany. He was an adept draftsman at a very young age this is obvious when observing his Self Portrait at Thirteen. (cat 4) When he reached fifteen years old he started to apprentice as an artist under Michael Wolgemut. After three years as his apprentice he travel ed around Europe and also trained in Venice.2 He melded the idealism of the Italians with the realism and symbolism of the Germans. While his paintings were remarkable, his real impression was left by his printmaking.3 Drer used both woodcut, and engraving techniques to create art prints that were considerably reproduced, and spread to the masses. Woodcuts consist of carving away the negative space on a wood block leaving a relief that will be inked and then pressed with damp paper. Gold and metal workers had been using engraving probably since the dawn of civilization to decorate jewelry and armor. Shortly before Drers time it was developed as a method of printmaking. In this technique a burin is used to carve away the lines that the artist wants to... ...eflections on prototypical images.Cologne Taschen, 2010. 132. Print. Clark Institute. DRERS SYMBOLISM.The Strange World of Albrecht Drer.Sterling and Franchise Clark Institue, n.d. Web. 2 May 2014. .U.S. content Library of Med icine. Four Humors - And theres the humor ofit Shakespeare and the four humors. U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 1 May 2014.fourhumors.html Hideko, Ishizu. Another Solution to the Polyhedron in Drers Melencholia AVisual demonstration of the Delian Problem. Aesthetics zero(prenominal) 13 (2009) 179-194. Japanese Society for Aesthetics . Web. 1 May 2014.