Five years before painting this portrait, Dürer had settled down in the city he was born where he shortly after established his own workshop. Nuremberg was a natural choice not only because it was the city he came from, but also because it was the wealthy focal point of the Holy Roman Empire. Despite of the fact that Dürer travelled a few times abroad, in particular to Italy, and that he wished the distribution of his works to stretch throughout Europe, his workshop and the focus of his professional and personal interests were concentrated in Nuremberg.10 By 1509 he was a member of the Great Council of Nuremberg while he was able to purchase a house in the Zisselgasse, the finest street of the city.11 Like many other artists of his time, Dürer was above all an intellectual. The fact that he was involved in the development of printmaking techniques, made him important for the community of humanist scholars that were active in Nuremberg at the time. A central intellectual figure of the time was Willibald Pirckheimer, a personal friend of Dürer who introduced him to the literature and ideals of Italian Renaissance and provided him with proposals for future publications that would be interesting for the intellectual elite of the city. Dürer extended his activities beyond printing others’ theories and during his later years he published his own theoretical contributions, including his ideas on art theory namely, the Treatise on Measurement (1525); Treatise on Fortification (1527), and Four books on Human Proportion (1528).12 The branding strategies of such an artist/head of workshop is of particular interest due to the chosen audience of the artwork. Dürer’s clientele was particularly diversified, ranging from individuals with limited economic means that could barely purchase a small print, to the Emperor himself (in fact two of them Maximian I and Emperor Charles V), that would order exclusive art pieces, and in fact everyone else in between.13 77 frantzeska papadopoulou skarp 10 Metzger, Christof, Albrecht Dürer. Christof Metzger, ed. Exh. Cat. Munich: Prestel, 2020, pp.12–36. 11 See the information compiled in https://www.durerart.com/ (last visited 19 maj 2024). 12 See Panofsky, Erwin, The Life and art of Albrecht Dürer, Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1955. 13 Eichberger, Dagmar, ‘Art and Entrepreneurship: Dürer’s Encounters with Margaret of Austria and his Network at the Imperial Court.’ InDürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist, exhibition catalogue edited by Susan Foister and Peter van den Brink, pp. 120–129. London: National Gallery, 2021.
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