Albrecht Dürer

Born in Nuremberg on 21 May 1471, Dürer built his reputation across Europe while still in his twenties through high-quality woodcut prints that were stylistically Gothic yet revolutionized the medium's potential. He corresponded with Raphael, Giovanni Bellini, and Leonardo da Vinci, absorbing Italian techniques and classical motifs that he carried back north. From 1512 Emperor Maximilian I became his patron. His later work favored engraving, where his handling of the burin expanded tonal range in ways no one had managed before. He painted altarpieces and self-portraits, made watercolors, wrote theoretical treatises on mathematics, linear perspective, and body proportions - and by introducing the nude and classical form into Northern art, became one of the most important figures of the German Renaissance. He died on 6 April 1528.