Falk’s Reviews > Albrecht Dürer: A Biography > Status Update
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Falk
is on page 57 of 306
"Without [Willibald] Pirckheimer's friendship, it has been said, there would probably have been a different Albrecht Dürer, for Pirckheimer bore much of the responsibility for having exposed the artist to the literature and the ideals ofthe Italian Renaissance, as well as to those of the ancient world." (p. 48)
— Mar 13, 2017 01:10PM
Falk
is on page 40 of 306
So far, this has been a terribly dry read, but since we have only reached his journeyman years, where information is as scarce as for his childhood, I’ll stay with it a bit further at least. If the desert dryness continues I know I’ll be tempted, as one notoriously is in the desert, to seek out more luscious groves..
— Mar 11, 2017 06:09AM
‘Also I have seen the things which have been sent to the King from the new golden land [Mexico] : a sun all made of gold, a whole klaffter [fathom] wide, and a moon all of silver of the same size. Also two rooms full of the arms of the people there, and all sorts of wonderful weapons of theirs, armor and darts, wonderful shields, strange clothing, bedspreads, and all kinds of wonderful objects of various uses, much more beautiful to me than miracles [Wunderding]. These things were all so precious that they have been valued at 100,000 florins. All the days of my life I have seen nothing that has gladdened my heart so much as these things, for I saw amongst them wonderful works of art, and I marveled at the subtle ingenia of men in foreign lands. Indeed, I cannot express all that I thought there.’
As the son of Kaiser Friedrich Ill's favored goldsmith, who had practiced the art himself as a novice, Dürer's opinion on the high quality of the objects of silver and gold—most of which are now lost—is invaluable. He was also extremely knowledgeable on the subject of arms and armor, which made up a substantial portion of the booty, as did garments and ceremonial hangings of brilliant and exotic bird feathers—another special interest of Dürer's. (p. 141)