Dürer: German Renaissance Self-Expressionist
阿尔布雷希特·丢勒（Albrecht Dürer）是德国文艺复兴时期著名的油画家、版画家、雕塑家、艺术理论家。从小丢勒就展现了极强的艺术天赋，15岁时师从米夏埃尔·沃尔格姆特（Michael Wolgemut），之后周游德国，并曾两次前往意大利，结识了大师贝里尼、拉斐尔等人，这些经历极大的影响了丢勒的世界观和艺术观，并最终助他成长为一位艺术大师。
Albrecht Dürer is a famous painter, printmaker, sculptor, and art theorist in the German Renaissance. From a young age, Dürer showed exceptional artistic talent. At the age of 15, he studied with Michael Wolgemut (Michael Wolgemut), and then traveled around Germany, and went to Italy twice to meet Bellini, Raffaello and others, these experiences greatly affected Dürer’s world view and art view. Eventually, they helped him grow into an icon in German art.
丢勒被称为“自画像之父”，他一生为自己创作了近10幅自画像，这在16世纪的欧洲十分罕见，大多数画家都不曾为自己作画，即便作了也遮遮掩掩。
Dürer is known as the “father of self-portraits”. He has created nearly 10 self-portraits for himself in his life. This is very rare in the 16th century in Europe. Most painters never painted for themselves, even if they did, they never published.
这是丢勒在13岁时为自己画的肖像画，当时的丢勒还在跟随父亲学习金匠技艺，可他已经表现出了极强的绘画天赋和自信。在当时，大方承认“这就是我”不仅需要勇气更需要对自己技艺的自信。
This is a portrait of Dürer of himself at 13 years old. At that time, Dürer was still learning goldsmith skills with his father, but he had already shown strong painting talent and self-confidence. At the time, widely acknowledged that “this is me” required not only courage but also confidence in his skills.
这是丢勒最为著名的一幅自画像，画中丢勒身着当时最时尚的德国青年装束 — — 头戴黑白相间的帽子，卷曲的长发自然的披落在双肩，身着带花边的百褶衣和深色斗篷，手戴白色手套，自信地与观众对视。此时的他已四处游历，无论是对衣着或是背景地处理都带有浓浓的文艺复兴风格。更难能可贵的是他已开始使用姓名缩写AD对画作进行署名（画面右侧中部），且在1506年起诉了一起侵权事件。
This is the most famous self-portrait of Dürer. In the painting, Dürer was wearing the most fashionable German youth costume at that time — wearing a black and white hat, curly long hair was naturally draped on the shoulders, wearing a lace hundred Pleated clothes and dark cloaks, wearing white gloves, looked confidently at the audience. At this time, he had traveled around with a strong Renaissance style in both clothes and background. Even more commendable was that he had begun to use the initials AD to sign the painting (the middle of the right side of the screen), and in 1506 sued an infringement incident.
丢勒极强的自我意识(self-conscious)在他28岁时为自己所作的自画像中得到了极强的体现。对比下图的《耶稣祝福》，可以看出丢勒的自画像似乎是在宣告：我就是救世主。自画像中，丢勒表情庄重，神色坚定，颇有肃穆之感，披下的长发和蓄起的胡须都与耶稣像相近，唯有手指动作略有不同，但这抚摸衣襟的动作也可以看作是暗示。如此宣告不可不谓胆大至极。
Dürer’s self-consciousness was strongly reflected in the self-portrait he made for himself at the age of 28. Comparing the “Christ Giving His Blessing” pictured below, Dürer’s self-portrait seemed to declare: I am the savior. In the self-portrait, Dürer had a solemn expression, a firm look, and a sense of solemnity. His long hair and his beard were similar to the statue of Jesus. Only the finger movements were slightly different, but the action of touching the shirt was hinted. It was a bold declaration that no other could do during that time.
丢勒的自信也是有资本的，他所创作的版画、素描和水彩画都可谓一绝。
Dürer’s confidence was built upon his rich experience and expertise. The prints, drawings, and watercolors he created were unique in many ways.
丢勒在1498年出版了《启示录》一书，书中包含15幅木版画，描绘了最后的审判时的黑暗场景。丢勒既是书的出版人，也是木版画的创作人。当时的德国正是战乱和瘟疫横行的时代，此书一出立刻引起百姓的共鸣，很快便风靡欧洲，并为丢勒带来了财富和名声。这幅《启示录四骑士》是15幅木版画中最为有名的一幅，故事取材于圣经，讲述的是代表战争、瘟疫、贫困和死亡的四骑士从天而降，不分贵贱，平等地对人类进行审判。从中可窥见丢勒的精神世界中极强地人文主义思想 — — 人人平等。
Dürer published the book Apocalypse in 1498, which contained 15 woodblock prints depicting the dark scenes of the final trial. Dürer was both a book publisher and a creator of woodblock prints. At that time, Germany was the era of war and plague. The book resonated with the readers and quickly became popular in Europe, which in return, brought wealth and reputation to Dürer. “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” was the most famous out of the 15 woodblock prints. The story was based on the Bible. It told the story about four knights representing war, plague, poverty, and death descended from the sky, regardless of the price, and equal to the final judgment of humanity. All Dürer’s concentrated in humanism, a revelation of Dürer’s spiritual world — equality for all.
这幅《祈祷之手》是丢勒为了画祭坛画用来练习的日常素描，画面内容简单，但可见丢勒对于结构的把握，对于细节的钻研，也正因如此丢勒也获得了“德国达芬奇”的美名。
“Praying Hands” was Dürer’s day-to-day sketch used to practice to draw altar paintings. The content of the picture was straightforward, and yet Dürer’s grasp of the structure and the study of details had earned Dürer “Germany” Da Vinci.
最后，再让我们来看看丢勒的水彩画。画中是一只小兔子，但丢勒对细节的观察和处理已经到达了炉火纯青的地步。这使得丢勒的水彩画不仅仅进了水彩画教科书，甚至可以作为生物学的样本用于辨别物种。
Last but not least, let’s look at Dürer’s watercolor painting. The painting was about a little rabbit, where Dürer’s observation and handling of details had reached the point of perfection. It explained why Dürer’s watercolors were frequently referred by textbooks, and additionally were used as biological samples to identify species.
丢勒晚年还出版了《人体比例四书》、《度量四书》等书籍，介绍了几何、透视，为北欧引入了透视画法。
In his later years, Dürer also published “Four Books of Human Body Ratio” and “Four Books of Measurement”, which introduced geometry and introduced perspective painting to Northern Europe.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_(D%C3%BCrer)
