There are few moments in the history of art in Germany which are as important as the years between 1470 and 1540. These years mark an interface between a refined late Gothic sculpture, painting, architecture on the one hand and the Italian Renaissance style on the other hand. Germany's most famous Renaissance painter and his city, Nuremberg, embody this time and this epochal change in rather unique ways. This time of change not only caused new forms of artistic expression to develop, but also new artistic themes and content. The country went through dramatic changes in language, politics, philosophy and religion, and this change is reflected in the work of Albrecht Dürer. Dürer and his contemporaries in the arts and humanities will be presented in this seminar, but also other important key figures of the years around 1500 A.D.

Required texts: Norbert Wolff: Dürer (Taschen); other materials.