Durer's Travels (National Gallery, February 2022)

Durer, Portrait of Burkhard of Speyer 

On the showing of this exhibition (at the National Gallery, London, in February 2022), it would appear that Durer was not particularly good at painting, at least, anything other than individual portraits (just heads) or engravings or woodcuts. His large-scale religious paintings, at  least from the originals or copies on view here, are just not that good compared with some contemporaries (Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo). Works such as The Madonna with the Iris (albeit a copy) look embarrassingly poor.

Durer, Studies of St Christopher

For me, the best works include his nine Studies of St Christopher (1521), wonderful studies of the draped figure in motion. I also enjoyed several of the works from his sketchbook, such as Two Young Women in Netherlandish Costume, 1520-21, silverpoint. He has a marvellous ability to capture a face, as in the Portrait of a Man (possibly Jan Provoost), 1520-21, although even here, while the face is magnificent, the arms don’t quite appear to be in the right place

Some of the best portraits are Portrait of a Man, 1521 (Prado) and Burkhard of Speyer (1506). But when all his portraits are shown together, it is clear they all follow a very similar presentation, always shown at around 45 degrees to the viewer, lit from the left, and with a blank background. A portrait such as that of Emperor Maximilian, 1519 (not in the exhibition), looks as though the High Renaissance had not happened. The Prado Self-Portrait (1498) and the Munich Self-Portrait (1500), where he depicts himself in a Christ-like pose looking directly at the viewer, is not included in this exhibition.

Durer, Christ among the Doctors, 1506

Where he stands with religion seems unclear. He made his money from sets of prints on religious themes. There is the tantalising reference to Luther as “this Christian man, who has rescued me out of deep anguish” (he wrote in a 1520 letter). But although he showed an interest in Luther, and made lists of Luther’s works, there did not appear to be any switch in emphasis of the religious works – he was painting a Madonna and Child in 1526. Works such as Christ among the Doctors (1506) look like antisemitic caricatures. The exhibition catalogue suggests that the famous Lutherklage (“Lament”) in response to Luther’s supposed imprisonment is not by Durer at all, although Jeroen Stumpel, author of the essay on Durer and Luther, doesn’t seem to doubt Durer’s interest in Luther’s writings. More interesting would have been to see if this interest affected Durer’s art.

Durer, Adam and Eve, 1504

It isn’t clear if Durer drew much from life. Certainly, he never seems to have successfully captured the female form, although there are several sheets in the exhibition documenting his struggle to interpret classical treatises on the proportions of the human body.  His depictions of lions and rhinos were done without ever seeing a live example – so it could have been the same with females. His Eve (1504) certainly does not look very life-like.

So to conclude from this exhibition, I would guess that Durer’s achievement was to create a highly lucrative business and reputation from printmaking, but I don’t think he introduced any major innovation in the subject matter or the treatment of religious works. The focus on the self, which of course is what everyone knows about Durer, is not at all evident from this show.

About this exhibition: of course, I am pleased the exhibition allows me to see works by Durer that I would never otherwise see, but:

• Could the audio guide not get the pronunciations of names and places in foreign languages accurate? The Italian and German names were woefully mispronounced.
• The arrangement of works seemed very curious. Durer had four main international journeys, but they seem to be divided across the several rooms of the exhibition, so you were never clear which journey was being shown in any room.
• It was unclear why some of the paintings by other artists had been included, apart from the simple fact that there were part of the National Gallery collection and so easy to include. I got the impression that an artist mainly famous for engravings and woodcuts, even one of Durer’s stature, would not be sufficient for the paying public, who want to see full-colour paintings, and big ones at that. So each room has some big paintings, even if they aren’t by Durer. This is the only explanation I can find for including, say, The Assassination of St Peter Martyr, by Giovanni Bellini. I estimate that, of the 130 works in the exhibition, there were 43 works by other artists, compared to 88 by Durer (or after Durer) – that’s around one-third.