Study to a large fortune 1502

Albrecht Durer made this study with pen and brown ink, in Germany, sometime around the early 16th century. Here we see a nude, winged figure standing on a sphere. To the left, a disembodied wing fills the frame. In Renaissance art, the nude form signified classical ideals of beauty and virtue, while wings were associated with divine messengers and spiritual transcendence. But what about the sphere? During the Renaissance, the sphere was understood as a symbol of fortune, and in this context, we may consider how Durer is representing the changing social structure of the time, as new economic possibilities were presenting themselves. Durer himself was among the first artists to understand the power of printmaking to build an artistic brand. He even went to court to protect his artistic copyright. By studying Durer’s letters and the commercial records of the time, we might better understand how Renaissance artists sought to control the institutions that shaped their artistic production and success.