Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist

The National Gallery’s new exhibition, Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist, visually presents a vital episode of art history. Born in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1471 Albrecht Dürer remains a true benchmark of pre-modern art. A skilled draughtsman, painter, and printmaker, he rose to prominence in his time, but his contribution to art history goes far beyond his own creations. During several key trips across Europe, Dürer honed his craft with each new destination and those he met along the way. He was unique in the detailed documentation of his travels; the National Gallery’s current exhibition captures this career of curiosity and ingenuity.

This sprawling exhibition lays out the evolution of an artist who recognised and, crucially, vocalised the marvel of the age in which he lived; each piece of art on display develops a sense of the wanderings (and wonderings) of a sharp artistic mind. The immediately striking feature of Dürer’s Journeys is the sheer volume of content on display in this exhibition. The collection delivers such a broad and often comprehensive overview of the artist’s body of work that visitors will certainly leave with a better understanding of the old master. It is an immensely ambitious project that succeeds in creating a sense of place through the careful division of rooms according to regions and themes. At its heart, Dürer’s Journeys is an enriching story of travel, experimentation, and the open-minded exchange of ideas; illustrating how the cross-pollination of cultural environments is fundamental to the development of art. 

One example of a missed opportunity to explore Dürer’s artistic exchange is found in relation to the Venetian painter, Giovanni Bellini. Early in the exhibition, the influence of the two artists on each other – during Dürer’s trip to Venice – is introduced, and Bellini’s numerous Madonnas are presented as a ‘particularly evident’ influence on Dürer’s Madonna and Child. However, despite the fact that multiple examples of Bellini’s own portrayals of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child are housed in the National Gallery’s permanent collection, it is a shame that not one is included here for the audience to draw any of their own visual comparisons. It is odd to simply presume the visitor’s prior knowledge of Bellini’s artistic styling and approach to the subject-matter. Instead, when a painting by Bellini does feature in this exhibition, it is to demonstrate what feels like a comparatively trivial point; the shared use of an ox’s behind as a device for perspective in both Dürer’s engraving of the Prodigal Son (c. 1496) and Bellini’s The Assassination of Saint Peter the Martyr (c. 1505-7).

Other featured works could potentially spark pertinent discussions of modern issues. The antisemitism in Dürer’s Christ and the Doctors (1506), the representation of indigenous peoples, and the intriguing career of female illuminator Susanna Horenbout (1503-1554) all invite further investigation. However, these avenues are not explored in as much depth as one might hope, since the exhibition is already swelling with such a variety of ideas and images. Nonetheless, when the tone and purpose of a room comes across clearly, visitors have a captivating sense of the artist’s life and work. Some spaces – such as the final room’s exploration of Dürer’s religious progressions during the reformation – offer contained and digestible microcosms of the artist which could arguably be their own exhibitions.

Throughout the exhibition, there is the reassuring presence of Dürer’s own voice. Given that he was a man who actually recognised the cultural movements flourishing around him and ‘built up an encyclopaedia of his own time’, the artist offers a unique perspective on the spheres through which he travelled. Words from his letters and journals are woven through the exhibition. This not only provides context to the artworks on display but also safeguards against a stuffy, anachronistic, or purely historical view of his career and oeuvre. Ultimately, the National Gallery’s exhibition sets out to plunge its visitors into the richness of worlds that Dürer travelled through; to better understand what he took with him and what he left behind. It is a whistle-stop tour of a career defined by discovery, and an invaluable touchstone to any visitor’s understanding of the European Renaissances and pre-modern art.

George Fountain is an art historian and writer based in London. With a background in Ancient Greek sculpture, he holds an MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art where he specialised in sixteenth-century Venetian art.

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