DÜRER BOOK
DÜRER BOOK
DÜRER BOOK
DÜRER BOOK
DÜRER BOOK
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DÜRER BOOK

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Can anything be more fascinating than to witness the appearance, at the hands of an artist of genius, of that new flame which sheds a fresh light on the familiar face of the past?

The way in which they reconcile their personal message with inherited culture, the way in which they take hold of tradition and forge it into an instrument of progress, seems to be one of the characteristic features of great men. The problem is not one for the artist alone, but for all of us, at least if we desire to take an authentic place in the world around us.

Thus, Dürer, seizing hold of original emotion, in all its primitive freshness, gives it form within the strict framework of tradition, which is certainly a limitation, but in no way an insuperable obstacle.

Medieval traditions still weighed heavily on Germany at the end of the fifteenth century at the same time that new impulses were  coming to birth and new standards were beginning to take shape. This was the age in which the young Albrecht grew up, an age very like our own, of rapid and violent social, religious, political and artistic change. It was an age in which it was not easy for a man to find his proper place.

Around 1500 three great figures, Luther, Erasmus and Dürer very largely shaped the cultural destiny of Northern Europe.

All three were intensely conscious of the value and the dangers inherent in the medieval tradition and in the spirit of their age; all three felt that they had a mission to fulfil in the world. In spite of all obstacles, the future lies open to man and it always involves, in addition to the heritage of the past, an element of novelty which escapes all law. This new element, due to man's initiative, finally creates a new historical fact, unpredictable because it is the result of a creative act.

Luther's mission was to give an independent form and a new content to the Christian faith. Furthermore, the use which he made of his native tongue has left an imprint on German religion and German language which can still be detected today.

The contribution of Erasmus was a new way of thought. His conception of the freedom of the individual, as homo pro se, and not governed by the community or by his "commitment" has an astonishingly modern ring.