Why it matters
Two hands clasped in prayer, drawn in black ink and white highlights on blue paper, have become the most widely reproduced image of prayer in the Western world. Dürer drew them for an apostle in the Heller Altarpiece, which was destroyed by fire in 1729.
Did you know?
- The drawing once included the apostle's head, now on a separate sheet.
- Dürer made 18 sketches for the altarpiece.
- It was first exhibited publicly in Vienna in 1871.
- It may have been a record of the hands to take home from Italy.
Based on the Wikipedia article Praying Hands (Dürer) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
