Study sheet with self-portrait, hand, and cushions 1493

This study sheet of a self-portrait, hand and cushions was created by Albrecht Durer in the late fifteenth, early sixteenth century. This work raises a lot of questions about the social conditions that shape artistic production. Durer made this sketch at a time of profound social change, particularly in the Holy Roman Empire, where the rise of humanism and the Reformation were challenging traditional views. Artists like Durer, through the medium of printed imagery, had an important public role in visually communicating these new ideas. His decision to create this intimate, self-reflective study of a hand, face and a cushion challenges the idea of the artist as a craftsman. Instead, he demonstrates the artist's individual intellectual genius, and the creative process is put on display. To fully understand this work, researchers might look at Durer’s diaries and letters. They could examine the way he built his business and produced prints for sale, or the ways in which the institutions of the art market have affected the meaning and value of his work.