Albrecht Dürer, Self-Portrait, 1498. Oil on panel. Museo del Prado, Spain.
Dürer was also a painter, creating realistic works like this self-portrait.
For centuries, only churches and very wealthy people could afford to own art. Everything changed in the 15th century when artists started using printmaking processes to reproduce their art. For instance, by the beginning of the 16th century, German artist Albrecht Dürer (AL-brekt DUR-uhr), right, could reproduce an image many times. It was fast and relatively inexpensive, so he priced the prints accordingly.
Dürer achieved celebrity status for his highly detailed prints. Many showed subjects that common people would find interesting, like the rhinoceros above. The artist’s work became so popular that others began copying it and selling it as their own.
