Germany and England

Cranach, Dürer, and Holbein—and all other artists after 1517—lived in a world forever changed by the Protestant Reformation.

1500 - 1600

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Queen Elizabeth I rarely commissioned portraits of herself, but her courtiers certainly did of the Virgin Queen

De Bry's images of the Americas affirm and assert a sense of European superiority.

Explore Dürer's masterful "psychological self-portrait" and the hidden meanings of the various objects in it.

Flashed or stained? Discover the historical techniques required to produce—and restore—this vibrant glass painting.

Care to waltz? In Holbein’s time, death was a visible part of life—the dance partner from which no one could hide.

Emperor Maximilian I employed Dürer to create a Triumphal Arch. It remains one of the largest prints ever produced.

What detail! Dürer studied the human body obsessively and spent four years working on this print. It shows.

It takes talent to turn an ordinary object into a work of art, but Dürer’s hand was up to the task.

Have print, will travel. New technologies of mechanical reproduction allowed Dürer to circulate his artistic ideas.

Dürer holds nothing back in this frontal portrait. By taking Christ’s pose, he conflates artist and creator.

These monumental figures concentrate their attention on the word of God, which Dürer writes into the painting.

Time collapses in this ambitious painting. As the Greeks battle the Persians, the West fends off the Ottoman East.

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