Why it matters
Drawn in silverpoint when Dürer was twelve or thirteen, this is his oldest surviving drawing and one of the earliest self-portraits in European art. The precocious face already shows the self-confidence he kept all his life.
Did you know?
- It is dated 1484.
- Two years later he left his father's goldsmith workshop to study under Michael Wolgemut.
- The pose resembles a portrait attributed to his father.
Based on the Wikipedia article Self-Portrait at the Age of 13 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
