Self-Portrait at Twenty-Eight

Full-face, long-haired, frontal as an icon of Christ, Dürer presents himself in a fur-trimmed coat with an inscription: 'I, Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg, painted myself thus.'

Why it matters

The boldest claim ever painted for the artist's status: the creator made in the Creator's image, the self-portrait as declaration.

What to notice

Frontal poses were reserved for Christ; Dürer knew exactly what he was doing. Look at the hand — the instrument of his art — displayed like a relic.

Context

Painted in the symbolic year 1500, as Dürer's prints were making him famous across Europe.

About the artist

Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). Nuremberg's goldsmith's son carried the Italian Renaissance north and made the printed image a fine art — the first artist-celebrity of Europe.

Renaissance (c. 1400–1600): Born in the city-states of Italy, the Renaissance revived the learning of antiquity and placed the human figure — observed, measured, idealized — at the center of art. Painters mastered perspective, anatomy, and oil glazing, and the artist rose from anonymous craftsman to celebrated genius.

Walk the Grand Gallery → See this painting hung in its wing, with music and guided tours, in the full virtual museum.