Albrecht Altdorfer

Albrecht Altdorfer - Respected citizen and esteemed painter

Albrecht Altdorfer was born in 1480, possibly in Altdorf near Landshut or in Regensburg, Germany. Little is known about the artist's life, but he was most probably the son of the Regensburg painter Ulrich Altdorfer, and there is documentary evidence that he acquired Regensburg citizenship on 13 March 1505. Albrecht Altdorfer spent almost his entire life in Regensburg, married there and was considered a respected citizen, but remained childless. His good reputation as an artist was demonstrated by the fact that even the House of Habsburg, namely Emperor Maximilian I, was one of his patrons, and the emperor's favour contributed significantly to Altendorfer's rise to fame. In 1517, Altdorfer was elected to the Outer Council of Regensburg, in which function he supported the expulsion of the Jews from the city on 21 February 1519 and was thus partly responsible for the destruction of one of the largest and most vibrant Jewish communities of the Middle Ages. In place of the destroyed synagogue, the pilgrimage church Zur schönen Maria was built, for which Altdorfer later contributed several woodcuts, which are among his best works and were sometimes even attributed to Albrecht Dürer. He also took on the artistic design of the church banner and illustrated the Papal absolutions. In 1526, Altdorfer became a member of the Inner Council and was appointed master builder of Regensburg; in this capacity, he extended the city's fortifications to protect it from an imminent attack by the Turks and built a slaughterhouse.

An important representative of the Danube School

In 1528, Albrecht Altdorfer was granted leave of absence by the city of Regensburg from his duties as councillor and master builder so that he could complete a major commission for Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria - an honour for which he even turned down the offer to be elected mayor. This was presumably the painting Alexanderschlacht (Alexander's Battle), which was part of an entire history cycle that Altdorfer produced for the duke. This cycle is considered from the artist's late work, the third creative phase in which he developed his full mastery. The first creative phase began in 1506 with drawings and engravings, some of which were tiny in size, depicting religious and mythological scenes and stylistically reminiscent of the works of Jacopo de' Barbari. The art of Lucas Cranach and Albrecht Dürer had an unmistakable influence on the first paintings, which were created from 1607 onwards. It is assumed that Dürer was one of Albrecht Altdorfer's teachers, and both are considered founders of the Nuremberg Kleinmeister (Minor Masters). The second phase began in 1516 with a painting style focussing on distant viewpoint, which proved particularly successful in large-format altarpieces. The third phase finally began in 1526 and made Albrecht Altdorfer the most important representative of the so-called Danube School alongside Wolf Huber.

Albrecht Altdorfer died in Regensbuurg on 12 February 1538. He still has a strong presence in the Danube region, with streets named after him in Wörth an der Donau, Regensburg and even Vienna. The writer Hans Watzlik made Albrecht Altdorfer the subject of his poem Der Meister von Regensburg, whilst the asteroid (8121) also bears Altdorfer's name.