Care to waltz? In Holbein’s time, death was a visible part of life—the dance partner from which no one could hide.
The Northern Renaissance: 1500s
Faded though it is, this tapestry retains its breathtaking illusionism: veins pop, wine flows, and hair curls.
Bernard van Orley and Pieter de Pannemaker, ...
What detail! Dürer studied the human body obsessively and spent four years working on this print. It shows.
Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve
It takes talent to turn an ordinary object into a work of art, but Dürer’s hand was up to the task.
Albrecht Dürer, Self-portrait, Study of a Hand ...
Join the birds and soar through this frozen landscape. On the pond below, playful scenes warm the air.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hunters in the ...
Bruegel offers up a slice of peasant life. Despite our historical distance, this is a wedding party we can attend.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Peasant Wedding
Have print, will travel. New technologies of mechanical reproduction allowed Dürer to circulate his artistic ideas.
Albrecht Dürer’s woodcuts and engravings
Without historical sources, what gives an artist authority to depict the divine? Gossaert channels St. Luke.
Jan Gossaert, Saint Luke Painting the Madonna
Dürer holds nothing back in this frontal portrait. By taking Christ’s pose, he conflates artist and creator.
Albrecht Dürer, Self-Portrait (1500)
These monumental figures concentrate their attention on the word of God, which Dürer writes into the painting.
Albrecht Dürer, The Four Apostles
Time collapses in this ambitious painting. As the Greeks battle the Persians, the West fends off the Ottoman East.
Albrecht Altdorfer, The Battle of Issus
Just another day in Hell. Bosch’s seemingly endless representations of pain and suffering betray his dark vision.
Hieronymus Bosch, Last Judgment Triptych
Such a gruesome act; such a passive woman. But is she really so refined? With Cranach, meaning is never clear-cut.
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Judith with the ...
What a catch! Henry VIII reportedly kissed this likeness of Christina, but their marriage was not to be.
Hans Holbein the Younger, Christina of Denmark, Duchess ...
Get out your Pantone colors—and count the shades of green. With stunning precision, Dürer elevates humble ground.
Albrecht Dürer, The Large Piece of Turf
Is the pleasure worth the pain? At the Court of Saxony, an aristocratic woman vamps it up as Venus.
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Cupid complaining to Venus
In this solemn and precisely rendered scene, the material world reveals the spiritual. But what’s that angel up to?
Gerard David, The Virgin and Child with ...
Tiles of pie? Spilt porridge? You have to laugh. For all its morality, this painting makes light of human foible.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Dutch Proverbs
A perpetual construction site, this tower rises and falls—just like each of us.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Tower of Babel
This merchant is a man of business, yet as Holbein reminds us, the material world isn’t all there is.
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