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Albrecht Dürer - A Man in a Fur Coat, 1521

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This small oil painting shows a light-skinned man from the waist up, turned halfway to our left and gazing into the distance.  The man has brown hair, long brown eyebrows, brownish eyes, a prominent nose, and a closed mouth.  He wears a plush brown fur coat, which is open at the front.  Under the coat is a darker brown garment that rises to the man’s throat, with a slit opening at the top and narrow, lighter-colored trim along the neck, the edges of the slit, and across the chest.  Just visible under that garment is some white fabric near the man’s throat.  The man’s left arm is bent at the elbow and extends, through an opening in the fur coat, horizontally to our left, with the forearm and hand partially visible along the bottom of the painting.  The sleeve on the forearm is light red and gathered, with white fabric at the wrist.  The man wears a large, multi-cornered dark brown hat.  A tie at the top holds up earflaps.  The man is set against a plain blue background, with a shadow to our right, behind his head and left shoulder.  Inscribed at the top center of the painting is the year 1521 AD.

Albrecht Dürer (Nuremberg, 1471 - 1528, Nuremberg)

A Man in a Fur Coat, 1521

Oil on oak panel , 50.6 x 32.9 cm (19 15/16 x 12 15/16 in.)

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Commentary

Painted, according to the inscription at the top center, in 1521. At that time Durer was traveling in the Netherlands. The stern, unflattering characterization is typical of the artist's work. In the face especially, the picture has suffered from loss of the original paint, but even so, it retains much of the sitter's personality and of the artist's powerful draftsmanship.