Gallery of Durer Illustrations and Paintings

This is a gallery of the wonderful artwork of Albrecht Durer, organized by subject matter as well as medium. We hope that you enjoy viewing this online collection of Durer engravings, paintings, and drawings.

Self Portraits

Durer liked to draw and paint pictures of himself. So we are lucky to have a large number of images of the great artist, in various formats, showing Durer at different ages. He has a very striking appearance, with an intense stare that often seems to be looking at you from the image. He also inserted self portraits into other paintings and scenes.

Willibald Pirckheimer

Another favorite subject of Durer was his friend and confidant Willibald Pirckheimer, whom he depicted in several paintings and engravings. Pirckheimer, a renowned lawyer and scholar, strikes us the very opposite of Durer. Durer images present a man with a powerful physique as well as a soulful, spiritual quality. But Pirckheimer seems to be very carnal, a man who is somehow debauched and certainly not in prime physical shape. The contrast between the two men's appearance is very interesting, yet despite their differences they were lifelong friends.

Religious Paintings

Although Durer lived during the German Renaissance, when humanist ideals were making inroads into a society, the Church remained one of the biggest buyers of art to decorate churches and to provide religious instruction through visual depictions of Biblical scenes and the lives of the martyrs. Much of Durer's artistic output consisted of religious art commissioned by the church. Subjects included scenes from the life of Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Apostles and the martyrdom of various leading saints.

Female Portraits

A collection of portraits of various women by Albrecht Durer. As always he does a great job of capturing the personality of these Renaissance women.

Still life, Nature Paintings and Drawings

The study of nature was one of his favorite subjects and sources of inspiration. He produced many extremely detailed drawings and paintings of animals, insects and plants. He also drew detailed anatomical sketches of the parts of animals that fascinated him, such as wings, or the structure of a beetle. This famous painting of a hare, which has often been imitated and even parodied, shows a remarkable photo-realistic quality; you can count thousands of individual hairs on the rabbit's fur.

Engravings, Prints and Woodcuts

Durer was a widely accomplished artist who produced masterworks in various formats including oil painting. However he is perhaps best remembered for his contribution for his woodcuts and engravings, which set a new standard for illustrations. Many of his engravings were used to illustrate books produced by the newly developed printing press method. This section displays Durer's best engravings.

Landscape Paintings

Although Durer was best known for his engravings and woodcuts, he was also a very talented painter of people and landscapes. Here is a collection of watercolors showing scenes from Durer's Germany - its cities and countryside.