Self Portrait at Age 13 by Albrecht Durer Postcard

Self Portrait at Age 13 by Albrecht Durer is a delicate silverpoint drawing on prepared paper that is among the artist’s earliest known works, showcasing his precocious talent and already advanced skills in the art of drawing. In the Renaissance era, before the invention of graphite pencil, artists would draw with a finely sharpened piece of silver on paper coated with gesso, which would darken with oxidation and age. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was a German painter of the Northern Renaissance whose work as an engraver, printmaker, mathematician and theorist secured his reputation as one of the greatest artists of Europe. His many paintings, portraits, altarpieces, watercolors, and engravings were the first in the Northern Renaissance to use classical motifs from antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. Durer’s unparalleled skill in drawing and engraving as well as mastery of perspective allowed him rapid execution of a range of motifs which elicit universal admiration to this day.