The Huntington to Present “Albrecht Dürer: Wanderlust”

SAN MARINO, Calif.—The impact renowned German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) had on European art takes center stage in a new exhibition at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, running from June 1 through Sept. 23, 2024. “Albrecht Dürer: Wanderlust” showcases Dürer’s art and legacy through prints, books, and paintings drawn primarily from The Huntington’s collections.

The exhibition focuses on works created during and following Dürer’s travels to Italy and beyond, illuminating the cultural network of artists and how they supported, competed with, and learned from one another—ultimately transforming European art.

Dürer was a versatile artist who was at once a printmaker, painter, theorist, and publisher. Born in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1471, he began to travel to Italy and current-day France in his 20s, and the Low Countries of Belgium and the Netherlands years later. These experiences would significantly shape his artistic education and worldview. Featuring 24 works, the exhibition examines Dürer’s mastery of perspective and integration of Italian artistic principles into German art, establishing him as a pioneering figure in the Northern Renaissance and earning him enduring international renown. Additionally, the exhibition presents both paintings and prints by contemporaries whom he visited during his travels, including work by Raphael (1483–1520), Giovanni Bellini (1430–1516), and Lucas van Leyden (1494–1533), among others.

Dürer’s skills as a printmaker revolutionized the art of his time. His ability to create a variety of effects using only black lines proved unmatched. His contemporaries and followers copied his woodcuts and engravings or incorporated elements from them into their work. The exhibition shows examples of the dramatic effects created with thick, dense, curvilinear lines, as demonstrated in Samson and the Lion (ca. 1497–98), and delicate, compact cross-hatching, as shown in St. Jerome in His Study (1514). Dürer studied the writings of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius to understand the “canon of human proportions.” Vitruvius’ theories and his knowledge of classical art inform the design of Dürer’s figures of Adam and Eve (1504) in an elegant contrapposto pose. In the piece, the wooded environment, cliffs, and various animals re-imagine paradise in a northern European landscape. In the Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513) engraving, Dürer portrays a rider and his faithful dog unknowingly marching toward the figure of Death, who holds an hourglass to indicate the brevity of life on Earth. Knight, Death, and the Devil; St. Jerome in His Study; and (1514) form the trio of engravings known as Dürer’s (master engravings).