Albrecht Dürer

Hello. My name is Albrecht Dürer. I was born a long, long time ago, in the year 1471, in a town called Nuremberg. When I was a little boy, I loved to draw more than anything else. I would draw myself, my family, and everything I saw around me. My dad, whose name was also Albrecht, was a goldsmith. That means he made beautiful, shiny things out of gold. He taught me how to use special tools to make tiny, careful lines in my drawings.

I wanted my pictures to look just like real life. In the year 1502, I drew a fuzzy little hare with long whiskers that looked like it could hop right off the page. I also drew a big, strong rhinoceros with bumpy, wrinkly skin. I loved to paint with bright, beautiful colors, too. I learned how to make pictures by carving them into wood and metal. It was like making a special stamp. I would carve my picture, roll ink on it, and then press it onto paper. Stamp. A perfect picture would appear.

Because I could make these special stamps, I could make lots and lots of copies of my art. This meant that my pictures could travel all over the world for everyone to see, not just for kings and queens. I made art my whole life, and I was happy that so many people could enjoy it. I lived to be 56 years old. Today, my drawings, paintings, and prints are still shared in books and museums, so children just like you can still see the wonderful world I drew.