Durer "The Fall of Man / Adam & Eve"

Albrecht Durer was known as the “Da Vinci of the North”. He combined the classicizing of ideas of Italian Renaissance with the North’s love for the Medieval iconography and it’s detail in realism.

One of his best known works came about in the form of a graphic medium known as engraving. It’s rather tiny, only 9in by 7 in but it still shows the two values that Durer was known for. It showed off classical antiquity while having the iconography and scrupulous detail that showcased both the North and Italian High Renaissance.

“Fall Of Man” has an very deep sense of perspective to it; the figures of Adam and Eve are well modeled and it has an intense realism to it. It has subtle tonal gradations within it, and there are various details; some being the individual veins in the leaves, the muscles in the knees of Adam; the fur coats of the animals. The bodies are anatomical correct proportion-wise; and are more natural that being shown as idealized; and everyone within this is shown as two dimensional yet richly and deeply detailed.

Will all of this it shows the influence of Leonardo; the attention to details within the people, animals and nature. Everything had the same life to it.

In comparing Northern to Italian artists; the main difference ( in general, this doesn’t apply to all) is that they were less concerned with the anatomy of the body and perspective of the work; the similarity being masters of technique and the attention to exquisite detail.

Works Cited

M5 Northern Renaissance module notes

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/history/northern-renaissance.html