The sixteenth century Reformation in Europe centered primarily on theology and doctrinal debate. But the Reformation was also a turning point in the history of mass communications, particularly related to the advent of the printing press and the new capacity it brought for the rapid circulation of ideas to many people. Print would be used primarily to publish words. But it was soon discovered that pictures could also have a profound affect on the shaping of consciousness. One who most helped advance that awareness was Albrecht Dürer, a fellow German and contemporary of Martin Luther.

You Have Seen His Work
You know the familiar "Praying hands" that you see in gift shops and other places? You can find them as wall hangings, plaster models, cross-stitched pictures, acrylic etchings, or as brass bookends. The creator of the original drawing, for these was Albrecht Dürer, and he surely would be astounded at the many uses put to this one work.

Albrecht was born in 1471, the oldest son and third of eighteen children, to a goldsmith in Nuremberg, Germany. His father, Albrecht Dürer the Elder, worked hard to support his large family, but he faced many trials and difficulties. Only three of his eighteen children survived to adulthood. Yet, he was an honest man who became the official assayer of precious metals for Nuremberg. Albrecht wrote that his father won just praise from all who knew him, for he lived an honorable Christian life, was a man patient of spirit, mild and peaceable to all, and very thankful toward God . . . He was also of few words and was a God-fearing man . . . This man, my dear father, was very careful of his children to bring them up to honor God. The younger Albrecht was an apprentice in his father's goldsmith shop, but his real desire was to be an artist.

Recognizing his son's talents, the father sent Albrecht at fifteen to be an apprentice in the shop of Nuremberg painter Michael Wolgemut. Here Albrecht received a basic training in the mixing of colors and drawing inks, the preparation of panels, and the composition of large-scale works. He also learned the art of woodcut design, for Wolgemut was the first German painter to design woodcuts as illustrations for the newly developed art of the printed book. Albrecht's godfather, Anton Koberger, was a printer, and Albrecht became familiar early with the new printing technology.

The Education of a Creative Artist
Once his apprenticeship was complete, Dürer spent two years as a journeyman, traveling to study for a time with other eminent craftsmen in Germany. In Mainz, where just thirty-five years earlier Johann Gutenberg had invented the printing press, Albrecht became familiar with Erhard Reuwich, the first artist who also was a publisher. Reuwich's Travels in the Holy Land was full of sketches depicting the architecture, costumes, landscape, and flora and fauna of the Holy Land. In Reuwich's work Albrecht found an appreciation for nature studies as well as an awareness of the unique usefulness of the illustrated book. Reuwich, who had spent a brief time in Venice, had learned linear perspective from the Italian artists. Albrecht, realizing he could learn important artistic techniques from the Italians, planned to travel to Venice, but his father called him home to be married first.

An Arranged Marriage
In 1494 Dürer married Agnes Frey, who brought a dowry of 200 florins to the marriage. The match appears to have been totally a business deal between Albrecht's father and Hans Frey, a master craftsman who worked in brass and hammered copper. There apparently was not much romance between Agnes and Albrecht although they seemed to have developed a comfortable relationship. They did not have any children. Shortly after his marriage, Albrecht went to Venice, to learn from the Italian Renaissance artists. For the first time he became acquainted with classical art and began to study theories of proportion and perspective. Dürer was encouraged in his artistic studies by two Nuremberg leaders eager to bring the Italian Renaissance ideals to Germany -- Willibald Pirckheimer and Konrad Celtis. Both were interested in the ancient classics and the new scientific learning, dreaming of a German cultural revival; Albrecht Dürer would be an important part of their dream's fulfillment.