1471-1528. German artist, the leading figure
of the northern Renaissance. He was born in
Nuremberg and travelled widely in Europe.
Highly skilled in drawing and a keen student
of nature, he perfected the technique of
woodcut and engraving, producing woodcut
series such as the Apocalypse 1498 and
copperplate engravings such as The Knight,
Death, and the Devil 1513, and Melancholia
1514; he may also have invented etching. His
paintings include altarpieces and
meticulously observed portraits (including
many self-portraits). He was apprenticed
first to his father, a goldsmith, then in
1486 to Michael Wolgemut, a painter, woodcut
artist, and master of a large workshop in
Nuremberg. From 1490 he travelled widely,
studying Netherlandish and Italian art, then
visited Colmar, Basel, and Strasbourg and
returned to Nuremberg in 1495. Other notable
journeys were to Venice 1505-07, where he met
Giovanni Bellini, and to Antwerp 1520, where
he was made court painter to Charles V of
Spain and the Netherlands (recorded in detail
in his diary).