Head of a Woman 1507

Albrecht Durer made this drawing of a woman's head in pen and ink sometime in his native Germany around the turn of the 16th century. It is now in the collection of the Albertina in Vienna. Durer was a printmaker as well as a draughtsman and painter, and he thought carefully about how images circulated in his society. Woodcuts and engravings were a relatively inexpensive medium, and Durer used them to disseminate his artistic ideas widely. This drawing, though, suggests a more private kind of work, where the artist could hone his skills in representing the human form. We might ask, was this drawing preparatory for a painting or print? Or was it an exercise in itself? What did it mean to Durer to represent the female face in this way? Art historians consult a wide range of sources to answer these questions and others, from letters and diaries to account books and inventories of workshops. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.