Customer Reviews

The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer

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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!

Yes, there are no color illustrations, and yes, the prose is dense, but if you would like to read what is probably the most brilliant book ever written in the history of art, this is it. Don't expect a page-turner. You may have to read it twice to understand it. I did. And it was worth it. If you are interested in Albrecht Durer, this is a must-read.

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.

Erwin Panofsky was one of the founders of modern art criticism and a very learned man who wrote many books on such abtruse subjects as the difference between iconography and iconology with all the seriousness of a central European academic.

This lavishly illustrated work on the great German Renaissance painter and print-maker, Albrecht Durer (1471 - 1528), starts with a reasonably good introduction, mentioning the differing historical views on Durer, such as the belief common among 19th-century German Romanticists that he was a meek and pious soul wholly devoted to the interpretation of Christian subjects and contented with a quiet and dependent life.

This picture of a pedantic, conservative craftsman is countered by a suggestion that there might have been a Faustian element in Durer's nature, typified by a restless craving for a perfection never to be attained and an acute awareness of irresolvable artistic problems.

Unfortunately, this lively opening is not lived up to. Panofsky's treatment of the biographical details of Durer's life - including the revelationn that he was unhappily married - leads to a long, shapeless, rambling account, governed more by the intricate chronology of Durer's artistic production than any profound sense of the man himself.

There is no denying Panofsky's erudition. He definitely has all the colors on his mental palette. But like a bad painter he mixes all the hues together in a messy attempt to show off how vast and detailed his knowledge is. An intrinsically fascinating subject is thus rendered increasingly murky and morass-like by Panofsky's inability to make clear points or structure the rich detail of his knowledge. This work is the classic example of a book written by an academic with his nose too deeply buried in his subject. A strong editor would have been a godsend.

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.

I was immensely disappointed when I received this book. I was aware that it was an art critic book, and not all focused on the actual works of Dürer, but still: The reproductions are poor excuses for illustrations. I don't think I've ever seen worse. This is a book for people who are interested in Panofsky's theories, not mainly interested in making up their own minds.