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The Famous Albrecht Dürer
Before Dürer, prints (mostly woodcuts) were rather crude in design and execution. Essentially they were meant to be religious talismans, protecting the owner from misfortune, rather than works of art as we would understand it. Dürer completely re-imagined what the technique was capable of. He created large complex images, full of life and movement, and set them within realistic settings. He was a revolutionary in commercial terms too. You could say that he made his living as an artist in a way that we recognise today. Before him artists, or artisans, worked mainly on commission. Dürer was much more proactive, creating works of art which he thought would appeal to buyers rather than simply executing someone else’s orders. Because of this he was able to retain possession of his printing plates, which gave him control over the size and quality of the editions. I think his monogram can be seen as one of the first logos, recognisable to everyone, educated and uneducated alike.

Like Father Like Son
Dürer dominated not one but two printmaking techniques. He learnt the art of engraving from his father, a successful German goldsmith. It required great technical skill, using a scalpellike tool called a burin to incise lines into a polished metal surface, usually copper, which was soft and easy to work. Ink was applied with a roller, the plate wiped clean and the image printed onto the paper. The second technique was the woodcut, which involved Dürer drawing the design onto the surface of a wooden block. The background would be cut away with a sharp knife or chisel, leaving the design standing proud. Whilst it is unlikely that he cut the blocks himself he knew exactly how it would print and could give precise instructions to the printers.

Italian Inspiration
Dürer combined Northern European realism with the innovations of Italian art and sculpture. He visited Italy twice during his lifetime, from 1494-5 and again from 1505-07, where he absorbed the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. Italy also had a profound impact on how Dürer saw his place in society as an artist. Encouraged by the Italian view of the artist as a scholar and gentleman, he pushed the boundaries of his subject matter, finding increasingly erudite themes and motifs. He elevated printmaking from the status of craft to art, and the artisan to the status of artist. This approach and his own ambition ensured his success; he became court artist to two successive Holy Roman Emperors, Maximillian I and Charles V.

A Prime Example
The woodcut at left concerns one of Samson’s most famous exploits. His encounter with the lion is clearly symbolic and widely interpreted as signifying the battle between Christ and the Devil, or that between good and evil. His models for the lion were likely to have been the statues he encountered in Saint Mark's Square on his trip to Venice.