"Il Faut Cultiver Notre Jardin"

“T I drew, using a mirror; it is my own likeness, in the year 1484, when I was still a child,” wrote Albrecht Dürer about his first self-portrait, sketched with great confidence and skill when he was 13 years old (1). Fascinated by his own image, he continued to paint it throughout his life. His faithful dog once barked and wagged its tail at a newly completed self-portrait of his master, related his friend humanist scholar Konrad Celtis (1459–1508), repeating a story based on the anecdote from Roman writer Pliny (1). Though born into the goldsmith trade on his father’s side of the family, Dürer also apprenticed with painter and woodcut illustrator Michael Wolgemut, who introduced him to commercial bookmaking. At age 19, he left his native Nürnberg to wander the world and improve his skills, as was the custom after successful apprenticeships. In Basel, Strasbourg, Vienna, and Venice, he came to know and excel in diverse styles and techniques. A painter, as well as master printmaker and engraver, he was the first serious artist to work in watercolor. His landscapes, painted directly from nature, were matched in his day only by those of Leonardo da Vinci. “The art of measurement being the foundation of all painting,” he wrote, “I propose to give the elements thereof and to explain its principles to young people wishing to educate themselves in their art, so that they may confidently start measuring with a pair of compasses and ruler, thereby recognizing and having before their eyes the genuine truth....” (2). An artist working by the rule of thumb, without theoretical foundation, Dürer maintained, was “a wild, unpruned tree,” in need of the objective and rational standards of the Renaissance (3). These standards, acquired during his travels abroad, particularly Italy, and brought back to Germany, he also embraced in his personal life. A mathematician and humanist, he sought knowledge across diverse fields. An innovator and tradesman, he applied his artistic skills to new technologies and the production of high quality prints for the open market. His radical techniques caught the