Description
Was Albrecht Dürer's 1500 Self-Portrait an artistic blasphemy, an influential work, or perhaps a brilliant proclamation of artistic talent? Perhaps it was all three.
When art historians first looked at Albrecht Dürer's 1500 Self Portrait, they all saw a pastiche of a late Northern Middle Ages depiction of Jesus Christ. More specifically, Dürer can be seen looking directly at the viewer from the canvas, in a frontal position, from the waist up, and in perfect symmetry with the canvas. Additionally, she wears her long, slightly curly hair in a golden brown color, a different shade from her own natural pigment.
His right hand is curved in an intriguing gesture while his left holds his fur coat.
All of these compositional elements intentionally point to the image of Christ the Savior. There is no debate that Dürer painted his portrait in one of the most recognizable stylistic traditions reserved exclusively for the figure of Jesus Christ. This stylistic tradition is known as Christ Pantokrator and is considered one of the most identifiable artistic styles in Christian iconography.
Such a method of religious imagery was quite widespread in the Middle Ages and can be found in many frescoes and mosaics, as well as in most depictions of Christ in the Greek and Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition.
In Dürer's time, there was believed to be a written eyewitness account of the figure of Christ.
"He is a man of medium height; he has a venerable appearance, and his viewers can fear and love him. His hair is the color of ripe hazel, straight to the ears, but below the ears wavy and curly, with a bluish reflection and shining, floating over his shoulders. It splits in two at the top of his head, following the pattern of the Nazarenes. His forehead is smooth and very cheerful with a face without wrinkles or blemishes, embellished by a slightly reddish complexion. His nose and his mouth are impeccable. His beard is abundant, the color of his hair, not long, but parted at the chin. His appearance is simple and mature, his eyes changeable and bright. He is terrible in his reprimands, sweet and kind in his admonishments, cheerful without losing gravity. He was never known to laugh, but he often wept. His stature is straight, his hands and arms beautiful to behold. His conversation is grave, infrequent, and modest. He is the fairest among sons. of the men."
Dürer stylized himself according to the image given in the story, changing, for example, the tone of his blond hair to "the color of ripe hazelnut".
It is now universally accepted that the Lentulus letter was a forgery; still, the letter was published and was long taken as a direct eyewitness account. It is not surprising, then, that artists of the time used the description as a basis for their own representations of Christ and that, subsequently, a certain look was established in paintings of Christ, as can be seen in the works of numerous artists, from Jan van Eyck and Leonardo da Vinci.
With this painting, Dürer, who was then 28 years old, created one of the most unusual works in the history of portraiture. The frontality and the strong idealization are reminiscent of representations of Christ, but both aspects are inseparable from Dürer's early studies of human proportion. His gaze and his hand, which represent an artist's tool, are emphasized, making the painting a programmatic inventiveness. This is accentuated by the Latin inscription that underlines the painter's work: "Thus I, Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg, portrayed myself in characteristic colors at the age of 28."