The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer: 4th Edition

Panofsky is still the standard study on Durer. Recent scholarship has revised some of his views, but the depth and perseption of his ideas remans unmatched.

While Panofsky may seem indigestible to some - this is not a book for the "general reader" - this book remains essential material for anyone researching any aspect of Durer's career. It is written in more accessible prose than some of Panofsky's other works, since he concentrates more on straight monographic information than on deep interpretation.The book takes us through Durer's career in chronological order. It is easy to look up specific works and their contexts (there are handy indices as well). It's comprehensiveness makes it a really useful book to have on hand. All Durer studies after this one necessarily make reference to what Panofsky said.As a monograph this is, hence, extremely succesful. It is also a product of its time and of Panofsky's method. Newer studies, such as Joseph Koerner's "The Moment of self-portraiture in german renaissance art", probe deeper into some of the themes about which the reader may be left wondering upon reading Panofsky. Durer is arguably THE most important artist of the German Renaissance; Panosfky the most important art historian of our time. Read the book!

This is surely the definitive book on German renaissance artist Albrecht Durer (still justly famous in this century for his engravings "Knight, Death and the Devil," which a baby-boomer friend had as a poster on his wall, and "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"). The collection of reproductions of Durer's work, and that of contemporaries that influenced him, is extraordinary, taking up much of the volume's rather sizable girth. My only significant complaint is that I wish there had been at least a few color reproductions.