Shout-out to Dürer.

No one's home. Diana ringing the doorbell at Albrecht Dürer's house, Nürnberg, Jan 2011.

While in Nürnberg, we stopped by Albrecht Dürer's house. He's one of my favorite draughtsmen ever - though he was also a theorist, painter, engraver, and printmaker. Apparently, he also contributed [continuing the process begun by Martin Luther] significantly to the development of the German vernacular language with his books, including "Four Books on Measurement" and "Four Books on Human Proportion." In them, he used everyday craftsman's language [like Schneckenlinie [snail's line!], describing a spiral] to explain concepts of proportion, geometry, mathematics, spatial relationships, etc.

I also liked the giant doorbell he had out front. I imagine that it threads all the way up to the studio, so he knows when someone wants to come in and talk about art. 

Here are some oldies but goodies from Dürer. I love the Nativity; instead of the stable existing as a flat backdrop for the scene, it's dramatically thrust forward and cropped, a semi-ruin crowding the shepherds and wise men at the thresholds, and providing Mary a fleeting moment of privacy with her newborn son.

The Muzzle of a Bull, a watercolor sketch, shows Dürer's layering technique, and how the drawing is built using lines, patches of color, and areas of unpainted paper.

And the Rhinoceros is just awesome.

Dürer, Nativity.

Dürer, Muzzle of a Bull.

Dürer, Rhinoceros.