Albrecht Durer was a Master artist in many forms and this book does justice to his work. It has excellent plates and detailed text, and is a worthy addition to any library, expecially one which concentrates on fine art books.

If you are not familiar with the works of Durer, this is an excellent introduction. His attention to detail is unsurpassed in an artist of his time. If you are already an admirer, the text will give you some insights into his life and times that you had not before been aware of. It is a good quality book and well worth the purchase.

This is a wonderful source book for all of Durer's graphic work and should be in every one's library interested in master prints.

Albrecht Durer was one of the most talented artists the world has ever seen, and his woodcuts, especially those of apocolyptic visions are spectacular. This book reproduces these woodcuts faithfully, and the images are not diminished by the format of the book as is often the case.

These images are the stuff of nightmares - hell, torment, torture and death, and yet the images are so startlingly realistic as to be almost poignant in their representations. Enjoyt the images for what they are - works of genius. In addition the commentary is worthwhile, with interesting observations of Durer's life and techniques.

A valuable addition to an art lover's library, but also a fascinating book for anyone who is interested in genius.

The woodcuts in this book leap out at you with a ferocious and violent intent. I've seen the originals and the reproduction job here is nothing short of superb. It's hard to believe that such visions of the apocolypse come from Germany in the early part of the millenium. You can't miss this book! The engraving book is also way kool.

After collecting my 15th Durer book I found a friend who was travelling to Germany and asked for a book IN GERMAN about Durer. The book she brought was actually the book written in english and translated to German. I was delighted! This caused me to reread the english and follow along, as best I could, with the german text. What a pleasure and an underscore to how multitalented and unenjoyed Durer is. From a precocious 12 year old {doing one of the first recognized self portaits} to a traveller of the world, seeker of perspective truth and with humor at his side {read his letters to his friend Pirckhiemer}. Jane C.Hutchinson tells a story worth reading whether you are an artist or just someone who recognizes beauty.

When I was in high school I found myself doodeling alot. Getting into trouble from being side tracked with school work. I went to the school library and was looking at books of art and found a specific book by Albrecht Durer. I have looked through many books of art but none has ever caught my attention like this one. No other book has been of interest since. I checked out the book several times to learn his art and it inspired me to take my doodeling to the next level. I have never forgot his name or his art and I never will. I rate this book a 5 star, the best inspiring book, a book that sent me on my way to art.

This is a great work! Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of drawings, plus dozens of full-color, crisply-reproduced color reproductions of Durer's works. Almost everything in here consists of Durer's works in which he included animals. Durer was fascinated by animals and depicted them with tremendous scientific accuracy and aesthetic vision. All the classics are here: Hare, Crab, two drawings of oxen snouts, wings of various birds, tigers, the drawing of a walrus, and more. Too bad this book is out of print, but it came out only a decade ago, from Smithsonian. A used copy might be found in a used-art-book store.

Joseph Leo Koerner must rank as one of the most able and compelling figures writing in the field of Art History today. As with his previous work on Caspar David Friedrich this work is a masterpiece of interpretative criticism and research. Koerner proceeds always from close readings of individual works, but then sets them at the centre of a nexus of complex philosophical and socio historical questions. He invokes not only the writings of Durer's contemporaries, but such figures as Foucault and Adorno in drawing out the profoundest implications from the works cited. If proof were neeeded that art history can be urgent and disturbing rather than pedantic and arcane, then this book should offer it. As one reaches the end of this book one understands that the complex issues of identity which Durer and his circle grappled with are as vital and disturbing at the turn of the millenium as the were when Durer worked on the brink of the half millenium.

a mildly goofy interpretation that claims Armenian Christian origin for oriental carpets, ill organized, with excruciating page layout, but the sources consulted and the rich illustration make an interesting read and as well an incredible bargain

This is a beautiful book with careful drawings and magnificent color photographs. It is a serious scholarly work. An ideal text for a course on Oriental Carpets.

Dr. Gantzhorn's book is both a fabulous bargain, with over 600 beautiful color plates, and a ground-breaking work of art history scholarship. If you are open to an iconoclastic view of carpet weaving history, i.e., history which differs from the official one, you owe it to yourself to consider Dr. Gantzhorn's carefully researched and documented thesis.

This book was a very pleasant addition to my art library. I never saw it in a bookstore, so I was hesitant to buy it when I saw how little it cost and how small it was. But, I didn't know anything about Durer and wanted to learn and I figured I'd take a chance on this book. Good decision! This book is well put together and a tremendous bargain to boot. The book starts off with about a 25 page, obviously brief, biography by Mr. Bailey of Durer. Then there are 48 full page color plates with descriptions and explanations of the paintings on the opposing pages. The reproductions are of good quality and the descriptions are well written and informative. Any of you out there who own a lot of art books know what 48 color plates usually does to the price of an art book, so "Durer" is really a steal. After you see this book you will realize what a great all-around artist Durer was. He wasn't only a painter of religious scenes but an equally talented landscape and portrait painter. (Some of the portraits are just fantastic!) He also did some beautiful nature studies. Included are 2 paintings he did of a hare and of the wings of a bird that will just knock your socks off (assuming you wear socks!). He worked well in all mediums. The watercolors are as beautiful as the oils. Phaidon has a whole series of these books in their "colour library" and this book makes me want to check out some of the other titles concerning other artists I haven't learned about yet. Definitely worth purchasing as an introduction to an extremely gifted artist!

This Phaidon Durer book is probably, for the price, by far the best comprehensive introduction to the life and works of Durer. It is also one of the best books on Durer in absolute terms. The photographic reproductions vividly bring out the color and sharpness of the dozens of key Durer paintings illustrated in the volume. The photographs show that there is simply no substitute for an up-to-date book utilizing modern photographic reproduction/printing techniques to reproduce paintings. I have looked at several older books in librarys with color reproductions of Durer works, and this newer Phaidon book has much better quality color reproductions. It also has examples of key Durer drawings, such as "Praying Hands," and "Architect," as well as good-quality reproductions of the three classic Durer engravings ("Melancolia I," "Knight, Death and the Devil," and "St. Germone in his Study") and beautiful, crisp and brilliantly colored reproductions of several key Durer watercolors, including the classics "Hare" and "Great Turf," as well as key landscape watercolors. Of particular interest are the reproductions of the 3 classic self-portraits, of which the one Durer did at age 28 was so fascinating that it alone made me buy this book and is alone worth the price of the book. Another fascinating painting is the one that Durer made of Wolgemut, who was his mentor and who taught him how to paint. It is startlingly brilliantly colored, and has amazing color depth for a photographic reproduction of a painting. This book shows how Durer may well have been the greatest graphical artist of the Western World, and one gets a sense of his amazingly modern personality from the selections in this book and the quality of their detail. It is hard to believe that a man as modern-thinking and scientific as Durer lived 500 years ago.

Albrecht Dürer was an incredible person and an amazing artist, and this book provides us with the chance to look into some of his thoughts. The first half of the book consists of Dürer's letters to Wilibald Pirkheimer, written while Dürer was in Venice (1506). These are fascinating, Dürer's description of the Venetians and of his artwork completed during his Venetian stay are especially of interest. The second half of this book is a record of Dürer's journey to the Netherlands (1520-1521). It is quite dull when he is merely recording how much money he has spent on what and where he has eaten. But he does describe things such as the great procession of Our Lady's Church in Antwerp, and he writes about his fears after Martin Luther is taken prisoner, which makes having to read the dull bits worth it.

In these days of superstars you fight to read everything you can about the person of interest. In my opinion, Albrecht Durer WAS the quintessential superstar of Rennaisance Germany, and here are letters written in his own hand. Sometimes funny, but always interesting, you learn of the ways barter was used to pay off debts, how copies of his many fine works were spread throughout Germany and the accounting of each "stiver" spent of Willibald Pirckheimer's money (his benefactor). Even the fateful journey to Zeeland to see the corpse of a whale, which lead to his death, is chronicled here. When you think in terms of the current speed of information gathering--it's hard to believe we are talking about 1514 and not 1998.

The book is very,very good. First it is in the typical Konnemann Editions format,big and top quality paper. It has many illustrations, many of full page size, that are of top quality. Also, at its price the book is a bargain.If you are interested in Early Renaissance arts, you will find this book a valuable addition to your library and because of its very good price it makes for a perfect gift. However, it must be mentioned that the book features mostly Durer's superb woodcuts and his paintings to a lesser degree. I like woodcuts more than paintings, your call though.In addition all of the texts are very well writen without errors, by experts of the field,with many details that do not tire the reader. A last thing, taking only in consideration the book's price and its format and image-paper quality, it makes all other various editions of Durer's work look inferior.