Albrecht Durer at Age 13

[MindCandyMan]

When I saw this I had to post it...it's insane...Albrecht Durer did this self portrait when he was 13.

http://www.artrenewal.com/images/artists/d/Durer_Albrecht/large/Self_portrait_at_13.jpg

If the link doesn't work copy it into your browser...if that doesn't work get rid of the http://

[jrr]

he never did seem to get those eyes to look correct......:o

[MindCandyMan]

hahaha that's hilarious

[retro]

duerer was a talented guy, gifted. but when being amazed you should take into account, that he had been doing this stuff for several years already. his father was a goldsmith and he had to start working very young.

had nearly the same experience with picasso. always hated his works; then i saw some sketches he did at age 15. man, he was that good at realistic artwork, i'm not too amazed he got bored with it.

enjoy the sickening feeling the pros give you :D

[franz]

Wow, that's strange - I posted the exact same thing in another thread (http://209.126.148.88/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3259) a couple of days ago, along with more of his drawings:

Originally posted by franz
Yeah, Dürer was quite the man. Here's a self portrait he did at 13 years of age:

:) His drawings are amazing.. Ah, the envy.

retro: I'd love to see those realistic Picasso drawings you mentioned - are they on the web?

[retro]

@ franz: yes, they are... but dont ask me where i saw them. gotta use google yourself. ;)

[negativespace]

I've posted some here before. Go here: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14053#post14053

[Ouroboros]

I think slower artistic development is a side effect of how the modern world raises its young. These days kids are carted off to schools all day and taught uniform, pre-aproved facts. Back in Durer's time there wasn't organised education, so he started on serious drawing earlier than anyone does today. This wasn't 3rd grade art class cut-n-paste-n-eat-the-leftover-paste we're talking about, it was classical art training.

[Goo]

yeah.....i remember going to primary school at around 7 or 8 and my art teacher brought this thick book. first page i flipped to was filled with 2 pieces of Durer's art, one of pencilled rendered squirrels and another of his self potrait.

his rendering of hair totally blew me away, and i've yet to return the book:D

[MindCandyMan]

You guys are absolutely right about modern education...especially in America...it's awful. My nephew is 6 years old and tore through harry potter...he is reading the hobbit and Lord of the rings now...everyone outside of our family says that he is gonna be a "genius"...but my brother (the father) knows that my nephew is just reading on the same level that other children should be reading on at his age. They may categorize him as reading on a fifth grade level...but honestly...he's on what should be a 6 - 8 year old level...it's not that he's a super genius (he is really smart!)...but it's just sadly that the other kids aren't taught or stretched so they never learn. My nephew is homeschooled so he has a major advantage there.