All of Dürer's works in three mediums are reproduced in this edition. Among them are his most famous works, Knight, Death and Devil; Melencolia I; and St. Jerome in His Study. Also included are portraits of his contemporaries, including Erasmus of Rotterdam and Frederick the Wise, as well as six engravings formerly attributed to Dürer.

Eighty-one plates show development from youth to full style. Many favorites, many are new. Introduction by Alfred Werner. "The fascination of the drawings is inexhaustible; the skill incredible; the upshot — delight." — Boston Globe.

Issued in connection with an exhibition held March 24-June 9, 2013, National Gallery of Art, Washington.

"Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) was in a sense the first truly international artist. The collection of his work in the British Museum is one of the best in the world. This book shows how his sophisticated development of the techniques of woodcut and engraving introduced the idea of multiple images into fine art and thereby altered the history of printmaking. The chronology of his career is traced from his early work in the medieval tradition of Martin Schongauer, through the experience he acquired while living in Italy, to his major print projects for the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I." "The book also examines Durer's influence at later periods, from the obsessive interest in his work by collectors and artists during the late sixteenth century to the virtually iconic status he acquired amid the rise of German nationalism during the nineteenth century. The Nobel-winning German novelist Gunter Grass, himself a printmaker, contributes a subjective view of Durer's images from a twentieth-century standpoint, while other introductory essays by Guilia Bartrum, Joseph Koerner and Ute Kuhlemann consider aspects of Durer's legacy through history. The illustrations include all Durer's best-known prints as well as numerous drawings and watercolours."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

"Holy Roman Emperor and King of the Germans Maximilian I was Albrecht Dèurer's main patron from 1512 onward. These 45 pages of marginal drawings for the ruler's prayer book, unknown till their 1808 facsimile publication, reveal the artist's lighthearted and witty side. Includes 8 additional drawings by other artists and a new Introduction. "--