Week 6 Blog Post

Italian art during the renaissance marks the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe. The artists no longer exclusively depended on the patronage of the Church, the court, or civic associations. In general, northern art continued to carry on the late medieval tradition of great attention to detail. The Italian influence helped to modify this emphasis by simplifying and pulling away from the less essential features to the main theme.

Albrecht Dürer was the foremost artist from the German Renaissance. Dürer had many trades, gold work, stained glass, woodcuts, and painting. In the end it was his painting and graphic arts that he excelled in. It was when he made his trip to Italy that he was introduced to ideas and attitudes of the Italian renaissance. After his journeys to Italy he mainly worked with ideas from the Italian Renaissance, which enabled him to create new images. During Dürer’s lifetime he was able to make the transition from the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance in Germany. This became a process known as "Durerzeit" (age of Durer).

The work of Dürer I found most striking was his piece The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In The Four Horsemen Dürer uses great overlap in his figures. Where many artists before him lined up the horsemen in a row or one over the next, Dürer combines the four on top of one another creating a realistic chaos that the horsemen brought during the Apocalypse.  This woodcut depicts the figures described in Revelations 6:1-8, the red horse (War), the black horse (Plague and Famine), The pale horse (Death), and the white horse (Conquest).

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse follows Dürer tradition established by his late fifteenth-century predecessors. He fills his foreground with large active figures. I found it interesting that these figures in his fore ground represent various people. There are many figures that seem to represent various higher powers in society. There is a man in the far right corner that is wearing what looks like a mitre lying near a woman who seems to be wearing everyday civilian clothing.

Dürer depiction of the Four Horsemen is vastly different from past creations of the story. Dürer creates the classic dimentionalism in his piece that the renaissance period is most known for.  He also leans towards realism and naturalism in this woodcut. The great detail in the four horsemen creates a direct story of the four horsemen whereas other pieces aren’t direct in their figure placement and lacks the details in the most important places. Dürer’s details in his woodcut create realism and bring interest to the story being told. Keeping focus on each individual horseman and what they represent.