The young Durer: drawing the figure in context study day

Excellent study day at the Courtauld Institute exploring the themes of their current exhibition on the drawings of the young Durer.

It began with a fascinating talk by the curator Stephanie Buck, explaining why the exhibition was hung the way it was and why she felt that Durer’s travelling years were so important.

Next was Kate Heard , Curator of Prints and Drawings at The Royal Collection, looking at why Durer returned to drawing the Virgin and Child so often even though these were not works for sale at the time and whether this altered with the coming of the Reformation.

After lunch Mark Evans , Senior Curator of Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, talked about the relationship and cross fertilisation of ideas between Italy and Germany in this period. It seemed to be taken that we all knew the arguments for whether Durer himself had gone to Italy before 1506 but I had assumed this was the subject of the talk and would have liked a bit more about it.

Next was Giuliani Bartrum , Assistant a Keeper, Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, who gave a fascinating talk on Durer’s prints and why he became so famous for them and was described by Erasmus as “the Apelles of the black line.” Unfortunately she did go over her time quite a bit which meant the last speaker, Christian Weikop of the University of Edinburgh, had to cut his talk on the legacy of Durer a bit short. It was really interesting to hear how artistic movements particularly of the 20th century had used Durer as a symbol of the German nation.

All in all a very stimulating day!

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