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Self-Portrait at the Age of 28 (Fur-Collared)

Oil on panel by Albrecht Dürer, 1500. Alte Pinakothek, Munich. Frontal, symmetrical composition evoking Christ Pantokrator. Self-inscribed in Latin. Milestone in the history of self-portraiture and artist identity.

Scholarly Significance

Anchor the German Renaissance cluster with Dürer's most theoretically charged work, exemplifying the Renaissance artist's claim to quasi-divine creative status.

Patronage Context

No documented external patron; this is a self-commissioned work produced by Dürer for his own purposes, possibly as a demonstration piece or personal devotional image.

Notes

  • ·The self-inscribed Latin text translates: 'I, Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg, painted myself thus, with undying colors, at the age of 28 years.'
  • ·The year 1500 may carry millennial resonance: the first year of a new century and a period of eschatological expectation.
  • ·The frontal, symmetrical, Christ-like pose (imitating the Byzantine Pantokrator type) is unprecedented in Northern self-portraiture.
  • ·Dürer's AD monogram cipher appears prominently.
  • ·The work was in the possession of the Nuremberg city council before entering the Bavarian royal collection in 1805.