Art Institute of Chicago

Ulrich Varnbüler

Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528)

Date

1522, printed c. 1620

Medium

Woodcut in black on ivory laid paper with added brown and sepia tone blocks

Culture

Germany

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

For this work, Albrecht Dürer produced a drawing of his sitter from life, later turning it into a dramatic black-and-white woodcut. Almost a century later, the same block was reprinted in the Netherlands with two extra tone blocks in order to add color and increase the sculptural qualities of the image. A fashion for chiaroscuro drawings (which feature heightened contrasts of light and dark) in complementary colors likely influenced this choice, as did the fact that the original woodblock was beginning to wear down.

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