What a gold candlestick reveals about the ‘greatest German Renaissance artist'
This week: A new way of looking at Albrecht Dürer opens at the Whitworth, mysterious messages from another world hidden in a museum escape room, treasures returning to display at the Walker
If YOU’RE reeling from the sudden explosion of AI technology and can’t quite get your head around robot brains able to spout Shakespearean-style sonnets about cheese and onion crisps then you may have some idea of what it was like to live in 16th century Nuremberg. The city’s location in the middle of Europe and its role as the political centre of the Holy Roman Empire, made it a magnet for artists, craftspeople and merchants who brought with them objects and ideas that jostled together giving rise to new threads of progress.
Nuremberg had no guild system so, instead of being confined to a single craft, tradespeople could work across different fields and materials giving them greater artistic freedom. Material possessions flooded into everyday life - candlesticks, hourglasses, books - the birth of consumerism now a regular sight in people’s homes.
Meanwhile, the world was getting bigger. Martin Luther’s challenge to the orthodox Catholic Church was expanding thinking on religion and explorers were filling in the map of the New World. In just a few decades, it seemed like everything had changed.
Into all of this came the ‘greatest German Renaissance artist’. Albrecht Dürer, born the son of a Hungarian goldsmith in 1471, created a vast body of work in his lifetime, ranging from altarpieces to copper engravings. He is best known for his intricately-detailed woodcuts, a large collection of which are the centre point for a new exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester.
It is the first time in 50 years that the gallery’s Dürer collection has been shown together but what also sets this exhibition apart is its theme, and the five years of research that birthed it. It places his work in the context of the changing material world he encountered in his home city, revealing how he used the objects surrounding him in Nuremberg to provoke a connection between contemporary viewers and his subject matter.
Golden candlesticks of a Nuremberg design feature in his Apocalypse series, linking the St John’s visions of the end of time, as described in Revelations, with everyday contemporary life. In The Death of the Virgin (1510), Dürer places her in an intimate domestic scene, surrounded by the Apostles.
‘She lived a very long time ago in a very foreign place but Dürer’s work makes it seem more present by filling the image with objects of every day life in Nuremberg,’ says Edward H Wouk, one of the five academics whose research has produced such a richly layered exhibition. ‘In The Death of the Virgin, you’ve got candlesticks, flagons, fabrics. These would have been recognised by everyone as contemporary German manufacturing.’
To us now, 16th century Nuremberg seems in many ways as distant as Ancient Israel or the possibility of four horseman heralding the end of days. Yet somehow Durer’s intervention in these traditional scenes also bring use closer to them: ‘The objects connect us to Dürer’s telling of the story,’ says Wouk.
You can see many of these sorts of objects on display in the exhibition, from a spring-driven, brass alarm clock to a stove tile bearing the Nuremberg coat of arms. The alarm clock is silenced inside a glass display case but has a chime that one of the Whitworth’s staff has described as ‘sounding like the tooth fairy’s arrival’.
As well as creating art filled with depictions of material objects, Dürer designed and made his own. He began his training as a draughtsman in his father’s office, where at the age of 13, he created in silverpoint one of the very first self portraits in art history. His woodcuts, printed from wooden blocks carved in negative, allowed his work to be possessed more widely. Ownership of his art wasn’t restricted to the very richest in society.
Yet Dürer worried about the impact of consumerism on society - while he created works populated with household items he also warned against them. And while he was keen for wider access to his art, he also sought the security of patronage, becoming a court artist to Maximilian I in 1512.
The result of this relationship was The Triumphal Arch, a vast architectural design made up of 192 separate blocks. A scan of the original is displayed at actual size on a wall of the Whitworth in a video that zooms in on individual blocks to show their detail before zooming out again to reveal their place in the entire work.
The effect is extraordinary and overwhelming - much like the exhibition as a whole. Dürer’s work is so detailed that you could spend an hour with an individual work, yet here are more than 100 works on paper and objects. His world lures you in - plan several visits if you want to come close to appreciating its depth.
Albrecht Dürer’s Material World is at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, until March 10, 2024.
This week we’re also buzzing about…
Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque collections: The treasures on display in Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery’s soon-to-be-reopened collections include a Polish amber cabinet from 1700, a 15th century English gold signet ring cut with the Earls of Warwick’s bear and ragged staff emblem, and an ivory mirror case probably owned by a French noblewoman around 1320. Renowned paintings by Titian, Rubens and Rembrandt also feature among the more than 200 objects that will be returned to public display on July 29.
RA/ID Escape Room experience: Can you uncover the secret messages from ‘Royal Armouries Agents’ sent from mythical realms where they are busy investigating an anomaly affecting objects within the Leeds Museum? The adventure includes a 30-minute escape game followed by a 20-30-minute treasure trail and is suitable for adults and older children (although I reckon my six-year-old would be well up for it). Taking place every weekend until July 23, with tickets priced £13 adults, £11 child, other concessions available. Book here.
Thank you for reading. As always, I’m available for a chat on Twitter or in the comments below. Or you can drop me a line at tostoredhoney@gmail.com.
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Have a great week,
Laura