Getting intimate with Dürer

Albrecht Dürer is without a doubt my favorite artist of the Northern Renaissance, and I go out of my way to see as much work of his as possible. I've even been to his still-standing house in Nürnberg. Imagine my surprise when I found out that Vassar College's Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center owns an amazing collection of his engravings—and they're on display right now. Since I live barely a five minute's drive away from Vassar, I've already been there twice and will probably go a few more times before the exhibition closes on December 24.

Even better than my proximity to these works (which include some of my personal favorites, including St. Eustace and Knight, Death, and the Devil), I was allowed to take pictures to my heart's content! Here is just a small selection; I focused on some of the smaller details that one can rarely see clearly in facsimiles, and never in online reproductions.

From Melencolia I, 1514


A pouch suspended from the angel's girdle


Detail of the coastline


The greyhound(?) curled up at the angel's feet

From Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1526




Erasmus' hands

From Adam and Eve, aka The Fall of Man, 1504


Perhaps the first time I've ever wanted to pet an engraving...


Mountain goat in the extreme top-right corner of the page

More to come..