Study of Two Feet Albrecht Durer

Study of Two Feet by Albrecht Durer, c. 1508, is a detailed, grey ink drawing on blue-grey toned prepared paper with white heightening. Here, the intense study of human anatomy and proportions that distinguished the master painters of the High Renaissance served Durer well in this preparatory study for a large painting. Durer combines a firm, sculpturally solid modelling executed in lively contour lines with a peculiarly Gothic, northern European sense of realism in the details of wrinkles of skin and the character of oddly shaped toes. 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.