The reception of Albrecht Duerer in central Europe, 1528--1700: Aspects of art, science and collecting

This dissertation examines the afterlife of Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) focusing on the perspectives of the artists, scientists and collectors who used, valued and criticized his works. In the period 1528-1700, Durer's pictures and theoretical ideas traveled widely and were incorporated into new contexts. Numerous references to Durer in seventeenth-century literature, coupled with the proliferation of portraits after his likeness, are richly suggestive of an intensive and international interest in his art and personality. Using this biographical material as background, the approach of this dissertation is threefold. First, using the inventories and correspondences of the period, an examination of collecting practices establishes precisely who owned works by Durer, and the locations where interest in Durer peaked. Second, the numerous and varied artistic copies, imitations and emulations of Durer's works and style are treated in conjunction with seventeenth-century sources on art theory, to the end of understanding the significant functions that 'imitative works' were charged with, as well as burgeoning artistic attitudes such as retrospection, competition, and homage. Third, through an investigation into the influence of Durer's scientific works, especially his animal and plant studies, it is stressed that Durer was highly relevant as a visual scientist, and that his impact in this genre is greater than has previously been acknowledged.;Not only does a thorough characterization of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century reception of the most important German Renaissance artist emerge, but also an acknowledgment that one of the most noteworthy aspects of pictures is their potential to retain meaning long after creation and in diverse locations. In travel, pictures can gain potency, or become buried in obscurity; inevitably, they evolve. As observers of the travels and evolutions of pictures, an important task of the art historian is to become attuned to a range of later contexts and the fresh evaluations that can emerge there.