Art of the Reformation
At first glance, Dürer's Virgin and Child With Half a Pear may simply look like a lovely Renaissance mother holding her baby, but Dürer confesses much more as he paints the flesh, blood, and bone of the Son of God.
Located on the banks of the Elbe River, Hartenfels is not only an impressive Renaissance castle on the outside, but inside contains a jewel of the Reformation: the first newly constructed Lutheran church in the world!
Although Cranach was not an ordained pastor, he was most certainly a theologian, using his skills with paint and brush to visually proclaim the mercy of Christ.
Dürer was the one of the first artists to paint self-portraits. But why would he paint in the typical medieval tradition of picturing Jesus in full frontal view and use himself as the visage of Christ?
Both Lutherans and Roman Catholics claim Albrecht Dürer as their own. So what was he? Lutheran or Roman Catholic
Who is the Rider? Although Albrecht Dürer's "Knight, Death, and the Devil" has been acclaimed as one of Europe's greatest masterwork engravings since its publication in 1513, it has also been one of the most provocative pieces of art in the past 500 years.
Faces, hands, and books swirl around the divine Child in Albrecht Dürer's oil painting Christ Among the Doctors. The artist's rendition of Luke 2:41-52 is far from a typical, placid, generic temple scene!
From Albrecht Dürer's Apocalypse series, this masterful woodcut illustrates Revelation 6:1-8, the release of the four horsemen.
Though the Praying Hands is a unique icon in Western art that has transcended the sacred and entered the world of pop culture, the 500 year old work is only a preliminary drawing for a much larger work.
In his oil painting, "Adoration of the Holy Trinity," Albrecht Dürer gives you, the viewer, the opportunity to see a dazzling vision of Heaven with your very own eyes.
In the Small Passion Albrecht Dürer devotes three woodcuts to the Scriptural accounts of Easter day enabling us, with our own eyes, to see holy events as if they are happening right now. He places you, me, and himself as participants in salvation's narrative as he draws us into the resurrection of Christ.
In 1517 when Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Albrecht Dürer's magnificent painting, Adoration of the Magi, hung just inside the church mere feet away!